Photo by Jon Anderson
Shelby County Manager Chad Scroggins, center, at a County Commission meeting in Columbiana, Alabama, on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. To his left is the county's chief financial officer, Brian Wheeler.
Tax revenues for Shelby County are projected to be relatively flat for 2027, County Manager Chad Scroggins and Chief Financial Officer Brian Wheeler told the Shelby County Commission this week.
A draft of the proposed 2027 budget projects general fund revenues to be $94.5 million, compared to the $91.9 million in the revised budget for 2026. County officials anticipate ending fiscal year 2026 on Sept. 30 with $99.7 million in general fund revenues, but Wheeler said he likes to budget revenues conservatively so the county stays in a good financial position.
The current projection is for sales and use taxes to come in at $21.3 million in 2027, which would be up slightly from the revised 2026 budget of $21.1 million. Online sales taxes are projected to be $9.1 million (up from $8 million in the revised 2026 budget). Half of the online sales tax revenue goes to school systems in the county.
Property taxes from real estate are projected to be $23.4 million (up slightly from $23.1 million in the revised 2026 budget), while property taxes from vehicles are projected to be $3.3 million (up from $3.1 million in the revised 2026 budget).
The statewide-mandated cap on property tax increases is being felt, but the real estate market itself is seeing property valuations drop a bit, Scroggins said.
Rental tax revenue is projected to be $3 million for 2027 (roughly the same as 2026), and building permit revenues are projected to be $1.2 million (up from $996,000 in the revised 2026 budget).
County officials had projected to earn $1,050,000 in interest in 2026, but it now looks like that amount will be $2.2 million, officials said. The conservative projection for 2027 is $1.2 million.
Overall county revenues, which include a variety of funding sources, are projected to be $172 million in 2027 (up from $168 million in the revised 2026 budget). However, the only reason that amount is projected to be higher than 2026 is because those revenues include $10.5 million in revenue from borrowing money for water system operations.
The county is borrowing the money to upgrade its water filtration systems to meet stricter federal regulations that will take effect in 2029, Scroggins said.
Scroggins said he and Wheeler are still working on expenditure projections for 2027, but currently they have expenditures at $337,000 less than projected revenues. That projection does not include a cost-of-living increase for county employees, he said.
County department heads plan to make presentations to the County Commission about their proposed expenditures for 2027 at 4 p.m. on Aug. 24 at the County Administration Building in Columbiana. The County Commission is scheduled to vote on the 2027 budget on Sept. 14. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
