Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.
The Chelsea City Council passed the 2024-2025 budget on Tuesday night.
The Chelsea City Council approved its annual budget for fiscal year 2024-25 Monday night.
With Mayor Tony Picklesimer absent to attend his grandson's football game and City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Scott Weygand presiding, the council unanimously approved an $18 million budget and the city’s holiday calendar.
The $18 million budget is the largest in the city’s history and passed without discussion.
The council also passed a resolution approving funding for the thinning and clearing of debris at Melrose Park Playground and Splashpad on Chelsea Road. “This will also include some dirt work to smooth things out up there and make it much more presentable and get grass growing up there,” said Weygand.
Next, the council voted to suspend normal rules for the immediate consideration of an annexation request by Greg & Laura Masters for property located at 3199 Highway 39. The council unanimously approved the request to annex the property into the City of Chelsea.
In the pre-meeting, the council heard from Lee Birchall, a lawyer specializing in public finance for Bradley Arant Boult Cummings regarding an IRS audit of a bond issued by the city in 2019. Birchall explained that the IRS routinely chooses bonds to audit “out of a hat” to ensure municipalities are using the available funds correctly.
“You did all of it and you did it all perfectly,” said Birchall. “The message I want to give you is we successfully defended it. The IRS did not come back to me with a bunch of questions.”
Birchall explained that with the audits, the IRS seeks to ensure municipalities use the funds made available by bond issues at lower than commercial market interest rates, for legitimate public works projects and not other purposes, such as reinvestment at a higher interest rate. In this case, the city used the funds to build athletic fields, the fire station on Alabama Highway 51, and other improvement projects.
“You all executed all of the projects you said you were going to do, and you did in a timely manner,” Birchall said. “It’s a testament to your city’s administration, to the leadership and the council to borrow the money and then follow through.”
Additionally, during the pre-meeting, the council decided to remove a pair of resolutions to approve two parcels of donated property to give the time to complete due diligence studies ensuring the land has no legal or environmental issues before acceptance.
The next Chelsea City Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 17 at 6 p.m. at Chelsea City Hall.
