Disparity Over Budget Has Council and Mayor at Odds

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The Birmingham City Council's proposed budget, released last week, has received criticism and concern from mayor William Bell and other city leaders due to where the council has proposed cuts in the mayor's original budget. Namely, significant cuts to police funding and parks and recreation funding included in the council's proposal have been criticized by the mayor, but has council members on the defensive.

In a public statement Tuesday, council president Johnathan Austin said the draft of the council's proposed changes to the mayor's fiscal year 2018 budget was not the final version of the council's proposed changes, and that the cuts to police and the parks and recreation departments had been exaggerated. "It was always the decision to level fund police and parks and recreation," Austin said.

However, the official budget proposal released by the council Tuesday does show a cut to the police department's operating budget of $750,000 and a cut to the parks and recreation department of $5.6 million.

Cuts were also made to city government funds, a total of $6.8 million in cuts. These include cuts to the mayor's office, finance department and equipment management, among others. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Birmingham Patch morning newsletter.)

The city council allocated $6.5 million for neighborhoods, $4.6 million for Birmingham City Schools - which includes an additional $1.5 million allocation, $2.1 million for public libraries and $5.1 million for employee raises and $500,000 for the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.