Hoover council OKs $144 million budget for 2020 after cutting mayor’s plan

The Hoover City Council in late September passed a $144 million budget for fiscal 2020 after cutting out $4.5 million from the mayor’s proposed spending plan and adding $2.3 million in spending favored by the council.

The council then on Oct. 7 amended the new budget, restoring almost $600,000 in expenditures it initially cut and deleting another $543,000 worth of expenses, including $450,000 in road projects it initially added.

The net effect was about a $2.2 million reduction in spending from the $146.4 million budget Mayor Frank Brocato originally proposed at the end of August.

Despite the cuts, Brocato said the budget still maintains a focus on traffic management, education and public safety.

One of the large expenditures is $1 million toward the purchase of land for a new proposed Interstate 459 interchange just west of South Shades Crest Road.

Three years ago, the council voted to spend $2 million to buy 31.3 acres on the south side of the interstate and is now negotiating to buy land on the north side.

The mayor had proposed to budget $2 million in fiscal 2020 for that land purchase and another $1 million in 2021, but the council wanted to cut the 2020 expenses down to $1 million and stretch the payments out over a longer term. City Administrator Allan Rice said city officials now plan to budget $1 million per year for the next three years instead.

The council approved the mayor’s proposal to spend another $1.25 million toward the addition of a second northbound lane on South Shades Crest Road, $175,000 to upgrade the traffic signal at U.S. 31 and Braddock Drive, $110,000 to evaluate traffic signal timing at 104 traffic signals and $110,000 to improve traffic signal vehicle detection at intersections along John Hawkins Parkway and Stadium Trace Parkway.

Brocato noted the budget continues to include a $5 million contribution to the Hoover school system and increases spending for school resource officers to about $2 million per year, adding an officer at the Riverchase Career Connection Center.

He’s also proud that for the second year, his budget proposal increases the city’s reserve fund by $500,000 instead of the $100,000 increase that was common for many years.

Other budget cuts made by the council included eliminating $1.5 million to upgrade the city’s primary computer software system, $275,000 to outsource payroll operations, $225,000 to replace Fire Department software, $101,000 for tourism and hospitality services, $75,000 to study whether the city can provide its own garbage and recycling pickup, $35,000 for a feasibility study for a fine arts center and $25,000 for a study to find a site for an east Hoover library branch.

The council cut the mayor’s proposed transit funding from $196,097 to $68,205 and eliminated community service agreements with most nonprofit groups, such as the Birmingham Children’s Theatre, Freshwater Land Trust, Kid One Transport and SafeHouse of Shelby County.

Funding was retained for groups specific to Hoover but cut significantly.

For example, funding for the Hoover City Schools Foundation was cut from $50,000 to $10,000. Funding for the Hoover Helps nonprofit that helps feed hungry children was cut from $30,000 to $15,000, and funding for the Hoover Arts Alliance was cut from $4,000 to $2,500.

Expenditures the council added to the budget included $530,000 for a second new pumper truck for the Fire Department (instead of one new truck), $450,000 to purchase land, $370,000 for roof replacements at fire stations on Patton Chapel Road, Municipal Drive and Inverness Parkway, and $200,000 for restrooms at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex and $140,000 to hire an extra police officer and buy a new police vehicle.

John Lyda, chairman of the council’s Finance Committee, said he believes the council was able to come up with a good compromise from the mayor’s original budget proposal. It’s a budget that no one necessarily loves, but something with which all of them can live, he said.

Council President Gene Smith was the only councilman to vote against the budget, but he said it was not so much that he was against the budget as that he wanted more time to study it before giving his approval.

Brocato said elected officials had some differences of opinions and healthy debate, but overall he was pleased with the end result.