Photo by Erin Nelson
Flags fly outside Vestavia Hills City Hall.
The Vestavia Hills City Council this week unanimously approved a fiscal 2024 general fund budget totaling $66.4 million.
The budget includes pay increases for city employees and money for multiple capital improvements. Total spending for 2024, including money from other funds, is expected to be $86 million, including $7.4 million to pay off debt.
The biggest difference between the 2023 and 2024 budgets is in capital projects, where spending increased from $6.9 million to $19.4 million.
Capital projects with construction expected to begin in fiscal 2024 include transportation improvement projects at Blue Lake/Sicard Hollow, Massey Road and Columbiana Road/U.S. 31, as well as the long-awaited pedestrian bridge project crossing U.S. 31 and road resurfacing and stormwater improvement projects, City Manager Jeff Downes said.
The 2024 budget includes a new salary schedule for the police and fire departments.
“Following the recommendation of the Personnel Board of Jefferson County, it brings their pay up to a market rate,” Downes said. “In addition to that, other employees have a 4% COLA [cost-of-living adjustment] that is included in the plan, keeping up with the pace of inflation.”
The 2024 budget also includes a new pay structure for executives, many of whom have had their pay capped due to their seniority level. The new pay structure is designed to bring them in tune with market pay rates.
“Over the course of three years, we’re trying to adjust that to make it market-based, so when he have to hire and retain our senior-most leadership, we can do so,” Downes said.
The City Council passed the separate pay increase resolution unanimously.
The city’s general fund revenues for fiscal 2024 are projected to be 11.5% greater than the original 2023 budget, increasing from $58 million to $64.8 million, while overall revenues for 2024 are projected to grow 27% from the $64.2 million in the 2023 budget to $81.3 million, city records show.
Councilman George Pierce, who was first elected to the council in 2008, said the 2024 budget is a testament to the city’s progress over the last 15 years.
“That’s a lot of money, but to me we should be celebrating,” Pierce said. “In 2008, we struggled to put together a $38 million budget. There were cost cuts. The police, fire, all of our departments did without. When you look where our city is today, … we’ve come a long, long way. We owe it to our citizens, our merchants, our businesses to let us be where we are today.”
Mayor Ashley Curry echoed Pierce’s sentiments, saying, “It’s a credit to sound fiscal policy that enables us to provide the things that citizens of this city want.”
Downes first presented the 2024 budget proposal at the Aug. 14 City Council meeting, and then on Aug. 21, the City Council and Curry spent more than two hours in a special work session going over the budget and had an opportunity to ask questions of department heads about their plans for the funding.
Downes also said this was the first time the entire budget was made available to the public on the Vestavia Hills website.
In other business Monday night, Downes announced that the city was spending $43,000 of capital improvement funds to repair damage caused by rainwater runoff on Cahaba Heights Road. Downes said the city is working with a contractor to repair a dangerous sinkhole under the road near Cahaba Cycles.
“It is likely to cause complete road shut down for at least two days,” Downes said. “It’s not something that can wait. It is very serious.”
Downes said city officials will be meeting with business owners in the area over the next two weeks to discuss the issue and are working on a detour plan to handle traffic during the shutdown.
The Vestavia Hills City Council also on Monday:
- Rezoned the Columbiana Crossing shopping center from a Jefferson County C-1 commercial zone to Vestavia Hills B-2. Councilman Dusty Weaver clarified that the rezoning simply brings the shopping center to within city zoning standards and that there will be no changes to the scope and type of businesses allowed at the shopping center.
- Approved the final 10 percent of the fiscal 2023 budget. Downes explained that under Alabama law, cities are only allowed to pass 90 percent of their budget at the beginning of a fiscal year and approve the final 10 percent toward the end of the fiscal year. The resolution passed unanimously.
- Heard the first reading of a resolution allowing Alabama Power Co. a utility easement for electrical services to provide for the construction of a long-desired pedestrian bridge over U.S. 31. The council is scheduled to vote on the measure on Sept. 7.
- Joined Curry in recognizing September as Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month.
