Shelby County Manager Chad Scroggins gives an update on the county during the Oct. 25, 2022 Shelby Chamber luncheon at the Pelham Civic Complex. Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle
County Manager Chad Scroggins shared what has changed since he gave his state of the county in 2021 as he addressed the crowd in attendance at the Shelby County Chamber luncheon on Oct. 26 at the Pelham Civic Complex.
Scroggins said the county’s leadership team has changed significantly in the last 12 months. David Willingham took over as the county engineer after Randy Cole’s retirement after 31 years with the county. Scott Holladay is now the chief engineer and Clay Aderholt is the assistant county engineer. Christie Pannell-Hester stepped into the role of Chief Development Officer and has two new team members in Patrick Anderson (inspecting services) and Josh Osborne (planning services). Trey Gauntt is the Facilities and General Services Manager, Brandon Hamilton is over Environmental Services and Mike Asdale has taken over as the EMA Director.
“In Shelby County, we are focused on quality of life,” Scroggins said. “We can improve quality of life in a few ways, such as providing people a place to work, a good education system, and good public safety. The other piece is recreational opportunities, those things make folks want to come to Shelby County.”
Shelby County’s population in 2021 was 226,902, a growth of 3,900 people from the year before. The county also has the lowest unemployment rate in the state (1.8%) and the county’s one-cent sales tax generated $42 million per year. Property values in the county also increased by $478 million.
Shelby County ranks first in the state in household median income $78,889, per capita income, unemployment rate, education rate, home median price and health outcomes.
The county’s 2023 revenue budget is $166 million, the largest in history. While the budgeted expenditures are $186 million, that includes fund balance reserves that have been saved over time that will be used to invest into assets in the county, including adding a new pod at the Shelby County Jail.
“Fund balance reserves come from budgeted dollars where we received more tax dollars or something happens year over year when our county staff spends less than we have budgeted for,” Scroggins said. “We save those dollars for future investment in our county to handle large ticket items. We budget extremely conservatively and budget in case there's a downturn in the market or inflation that has recessionary issues that follow. We do that because if we save more, it will go into savings for future projects. We are going to spend less than the budgeted number, so it’s able to make us stay extremely tight on expenditures going out and how we collect going in.”
Scroggins said that the county received $42 million in ARPA (American Rescue Plan ACT) funds from the federal government and is investing those in infrastructure projects that will last a minimum of 20 years.
Projects accomplished in the past year
One of the things we’re the most proud of is being able to take the services to the people. We wanted to be able to combine services where it’s most convenient to do everything you needed to do in the county in one location. Last November, we opened the county services bldg on 280. Buit about $2 million under the architect’s estimate since we bid it right when Covid was coming out. It’s a 47K sq ft. building we built for $14.5 million.
Mobile Medical Unit: The county utilized the opportunity to go after grant funding to provide a mobile medical clinic and partnered with the Community of Hope Clinic to be able to go into communities during pandemics or vaccination opportunities. It can also be used for everyday medical needs and can go to the rural portions of the county to provide medical services to the underserved.
Dunnavant Valley Park opened on CR41 in May 2021. The county purchased the former Mt Laurel organic farm in Aug 2021.
Double Oak Park will officially open with a ribbon cutting on Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. The 750-acre park is located between County Roads 41 and 43 and will feature all types.
An email has been set up for those who see any problems throughout the county or have suggestions: eyes@shelbyal.com.
