Photo by Jon Anderson
The entrance to Vestavia Hills City Hall in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.
The Vestavia Hills City Council on Monday night approved a $146 million budget for fiscal 2027, representing an 18.5% increase from the 2026 budget.
Most of the increased spending is due to planned one-time spending of $34 million for capital projects, and it was those capital projects that drew most of the discussion among council members.
During budget discussions, Councilwoman Kimberly Cook and numerous members of the public had expressed surprise and disappointment that no money was allocated toward construction of a library branch or community center in the eastern part of the city while $9 million was being allocated toward reconstruction of ballfields at Liberty Park with artificial turf.
Cook, who voted in favor of the budget, said Monday she agreed that reconstructing the ballfields now is a good business decision because that project is sorely needed. There is a drainage problem there, and demand for field space has soared.
Cook also said she believed that putting $6 million toward $18 million in fine arts and athletic facilities at Vestavia Hills High School was necessary because of the failure of the property tax increase referendum in 2023.
“The city is sharing our capital funding because otherwise the schools cannot provide the fine arts and athletic facilities that our students should have,” Cook said.
But Cook also emphasized that putting money toward ballfields and school facilities does not mean that the City Council is killing the library project.
“The only thing that would kill the library project is to kill funding for the conceptual design and cost analysis, and our council has already voted for that to go forward, so I’m very hopeful that it will,” she said.
She voted in favor of the budget because it provides funding for all services that are important to Vestavia Hills residents, she said.
“Wev’e had some really good vigorous debate and lots of comment from the citizens, especially about our capital projects, and I’m very pleased to see that,” Cook said. “It means that people are paying attention and that you care.”
Mayor Ashley Curry said that all the council members have come to terms with the thought that the problems with the ballfields have to be addressed because they involve a pressing maintenance issue,
“We’re not debating either/or (between the ballfields and library),” Curry said. “ We’re just having to move the library down the line.”
Some big questions that remain are what exactly would go into a library or community center on the east side of town and where it would go. The council has tasked the Williams Blackstock architectural firm with coming up with plans, but the architects told the council they needed more direction about what type of uses are desired before they can proceed.
The current plan is to use the city’s survey that is done every two years to better define what the public wants to help the council decide the direction to go. That survey should be conducted by the end of this year, Curry said.
Cook has maintained that a library facility has been a big need in eastern Vestavia Hills for a long time, but not all council members put the same priority on a library.
During a council work session last week, Councilwoman Ali Pilcher said she had received 13 emails from people in support of a new library facility, but she didn’t read the survey results from 2024 as indicating another library was a “high priority” among the public as a whole.
She loves the current library and uses it regularly, but no other city in the metro area other than Birmingham has multiple library branches, Pilcher said. The school system has $70 million in unmet needs, and there are stormwater and sidewalk needs that are important to Vestavia Hills residents, too, she said.
“I am not hearing overwhelming support for a library,” Pilcher said.
And if it were determined that a library is what people want, the proposed location of that — next to the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex — also is questionable, Pilcher said. It’s a longer drive from Cahaba Heights to the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex than it is to the existing Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest, she said.
OTHER BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS
Other capital projects included in the 2027 budget include construction of a police operations and training center in Liberty Park (estimated to cost $14.7 million), $5.3 million for a Liberty Park fire station renovation and expansion, construction of a new public works and park and recreation maintenance facility next to the SHAC (estimated to cost $1.75 million) and realignment of the entrance to the Liberty Park baseball/softball and soccer complexes (estimated to cost $1.17 million).
The approved budget for fiscal 2027, which begins Oct. 1, includes spending $83.5 million from the city’s general fund, which would be a 3.2% increase from the 2026 budget.
That would include money for:
A 2% cost-of-living increase for city employees (costing about $600,000)
5% merit raises for all eligible employees
A full year of paying for 12 new firefighters
Hiring an extra maintenance technician and after-hours/weekend information technology technician
Completing the veterans memorial at Altadena Valley Park
Repaving 9 miles of city streets
Stormwater drainage improvements
At least two sidewalk projects
City Manager Jeff Downes and Finance Director Zach Clifton are predicting a 2% increase in city sales tax revenues ($33 million), a 6% increase in property tax revenues ($26.4 million) and a 16% increase in business license revenue ($7.8 million)
A summary of the budget can be seen on the city’s website here.
