Hoover’s 2023 budget includes 3.5% COLA for employees
The $154 million budget the Hoover City Council approved for fiscal 2023 includes a 3.5% cost-of-living adjustment for city employees and almost $15 million in capital projects.
The COLA was the primary change the City Council wanted to make from the budget Mayor Frank Brocato proposed on Sept. 6, said Councilman Curt Posey, who is chairman of the council’s Finance Committee.
While many cities are giving COLAs, Brocato originally proposed giving employees an extra step raise in the pay scale to help deal with inflation instead of giving a COLA. His proposal was to give an immediate 5% step raise for most city employees on Oct. 1 but also allow them to get their regular step raise on their employment anniversary date, as usual.
Employees who were already on their 12th step would have been bumped to the final 13th step Oct. 1 and then given a one-time 5% bonus payment on their anniversary date, and employees who already have achieved their highest level of pay allowed (at step 13) would have received a one-time 5% bonus on Oct. 1.
The idea was to provide current city employees a financial boost without permanently raising salary levels for future employees, but City Council members said they believed a COLA would be a better course of action than the extra step raise.
Posey said council members were concerned that employees who already were at the top of their pay scale wouldn’t get enough of a benefit without the COLA. There are more than 130 city employees with 20 or more years of experience, and council members want to give them incentive to stay longer, he said.
A 3.5% COLA also will better help Hoover stay competitive in the employment marketplace, Posey said.
The 3.5% COLA will cost the city about $2.6 million, Chief Financial Officer Tina Bolt said. It also will be about $900,000 less than the immediate step raise in the short term but will end up costing the city more in the long term because the COLA raises the salary scale, Bolt said.
The budget approved by the council also gives city employees a discount on health insurance premiums if they voluntarily participate in a wellness program, with the city picking up 85% of insurance premiums instead of 80%.
The wellness discount effectively gives employees 1.5% more take-home pay, Brocato said. It will cost the city about $900,000 but should pay dividends down the road with lower health care costs if employees stay healthier, City Administrator Allan Rice said.
New employees
The $154 million 2023 budget represents a 2.6% increase from the original 2022 budget and a 19% increase from actual expenses in fiscal 2021. It does not include “proprietary funds” (such as the sewer fund), for which the council budgeted $23.7 million.
The $130 million general fund budget includes money to hire 17 additional city employees, among them 13 custodians. City officials believe they can get better custodial service by hiring more day-to-day custodial staff in-house rather than contracting the service out, Brocato said.
They also believe it actually will cost about $89,000 less to make more of the custodians city employees, records show.
Other new positions approved include another plumbing, gas and mechanical inspector; a third animal control officer; a part-time police evidence control technician; and a full-time senior recreation assistant at the Rec Center (to replace two part-time recreation assistant positions).
In total, the new funding for all 17 new positions is about $95,000.
The council also approved about $281,000 in salary upgrades for 14 job classifications. There are three jobs in particular where the city is finding it hard to compete in the job market with current salaries, including building inspectors, emergency communication officers and public works and park maintenance crew members, Rice said.
Capital projects
The budget includes $14.8 million for new capital projects, including $3 million for road paving projects, $2 million for sewer system upgrades, $1.5 million to design the proposed new Interstate 459 interchange near South Shades Crest Road and $1 million more for the widening of South Shades Crest Road.
Other new capital funding includes:
$827,050 for projects to improve stormwater drainage
$700,000 to repay loans for about 15 police vehicles and a Fire Department vehicle
$592,117 for emergency dispatch equipment and software
$500,000 to go into a fund to replace turf on athletic fields at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex
$300,000 for renovation of the Hoover Randle Home
$266,887 to upgrade the traffic signals at the intersection of U.S. 31 and Patton Chapel Road North
$265,000 for a building inspections/permitting software system
$250,000 for renovation of the Hoover Lake House next to the Hoover Municipal Center
$200,000 for Phase One of resurfacing the parking lot at the Hoover Public Safety Center
$200,000 to replace body-worn cameras for Hoover police officers
City council additions
The City Council made several changes to the mayor’s proposed budget other than the COLA, including adding:
$150,000 to contribute toward a golf tournament associated with historically black colleges and universities and the Magic City Classic weekend.
$135,000 to raise salary levels for Hoover police lieutenants to bring them back in line with Fire Department captains. Fire Department captain salaries were recently raised with a restructuring of personnel that gave them additional duties.
$100,000 for a music festival at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
$58,000 to fund projects at Hoover Sports Park East, Hoover Sports Park West, Hoover Sports Park Central and the city’s sports complex next to Spain Park High School.
$23,569 for additional salary and benefits for the Hoover city clerk.
$15,000 additional for hospitality and tourism efforts.