Photo by Jon Anderson.
Hoover Council President John Lyda and Curt Posey, chairman of the council’s Finance Committee, listen during a Sept. 22 council meeting.
The $150 million budget approved by the Hoover City Council for fiscal 2022 includes money to hire four new police officers for a new police beat at the Riverchase Galleria.
There also is money for three new parks and recreation maintenance workers, a human resources specialist, $6.6 million for road projects, $2.2 million for sidewalks and $2 million for public safety capital needs.
City officials plan to spend about $126 million from the city’s general fund, $16.7 million from a special revenue fund and $8.3 million from the capital projects fund.
Hoover Council President John Lyda said council members have been cautious with spending in the past two fiscal years due to COVID-19 and were pleased to see residents and visitors continue to spend money in Hoover and generate revenues city officials did not anticipate.
The additional revenues have allowed city officials to restore about $2 million of $10 million worth of spending that had been cut in belt tightening, Chief Financial Officer Tina Bolt said. Some of that spending includes travel and training for professional development.
Lyda said he also was pleased to see the money available for sidewalk projects that have been “in the hopper” for a number of years.
The $2.2 million proposed for sidewalk projects includes:
► $600,000 for phase one of sidewalks in Russet Woods with traffic calming from South Shades Crest Road to Guyton Road
► $320,000 for a sidewalk on Sulphur Springs Road from Preserve Parkway to Al Seier Road
► $265,000 for sidewalks on Al Seier Road east of Sulphur Springs Road to Shades Mountain Park
► $265,000 for a sidewalk on Oriole Drive between Star Lake Drive and Deo Dara Drive
► $265,000 for sidewalk segments on Inverness Center Drive between Valleydale Road and U.S. 280
► $265,000 for a sidewalk on Old Columbiana Road from Patton Chapel Road to Green Valley Elementary School
► $265,000 for a sidewalk extension and drainage improvements on Maiden Lane from Savoy Street to Cloudland Drive
► $100,000 for miscellaneous sidewalk materials and maintenance
Lyda said he’s also proud to be able to fund the additional police presence at the Galleria and have money to maintain garbage and recycling services without charging residents a separate fee for that.
The City Council technically gave approval to spend only 90% of expected expenditures for fiscal 2022 and will revisit the final 10% later in the fiscal year.
Curt Posey, chairman of the council’s Finance Committee, said the council will take another look at the budget midway through the fiscal year and see if adjustments need to be made.
One area of particular interest is fire Chief Clay Bentley’s request to hire seven new firefighter/paramedics so the department can fully staff a fifth medical rescue unit in its frontline fleet.
Mayor Frank Brocato did not include the additional staff in his budget recommendation to the City Council. City Administrator Allan Rice said he and the mayor want to gather more data to justify hiring seven new firefighter/paramedics, which Rice said would cost at least $480,000 a year.
Bentley believes the city will take in more than $1 million a year in additional fees for taking people to hospitals now that private ambulance companies no longer serve Hoover, which he said should more than pay for the additional personnel.
But Rice said he and the mayor want to analyze actual revenue collections and costs for several more months before deciding whether to recommend additional hires.
The $150 million 2022 budget represents a 12% increase from the original 2021 budget but only a 6% increase from expenditures in 2020.
City officials plan to spend about 47% of the city’s proposed 2022 budget — or $80.7 million — on salaries and benefits. That’s a $1.3 million increase from fiscal 2021’s amended budget. The 2022 budget also includes 5% step raises for employees and a 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment.
The eight new city employee positions to be created should end up costing the city only about $130,000 because the city expects to save $175,000 in overtime by creating the four new police officer positions, deleting a park maintenance supervisor position and deleting grass mowing contracts with outside providers, records show.
Records show that 14 other city employee jobs were approved for upgrades due to expanded duties which should cost about $112,000.
