Mayor Proposes $139 Million Budget For 2019

HOOVER, AL - Hoover's budget hearings last week ended with mayor Frank Brocato proposing a record $139 million budget for fiscal year 2019. The budget includes 13 new full-time employees, including four police patrol officers, four firefighters, two school resource officers, two public works crew workers and an accountant.

The budget hearing was not be nearly as gloomy as it was expected to be earlier in the year when Brocato said he feared a budget shortfall of nearly $2 million. With the passing of increased lodging, sales and personal property taxes, that shortfall is expected to be offset. Without those tax increases, the city would have faced cuts in services, no new employees and perhaps no capital projects, Brocato said.

A report by the Hoover Sun said the mayor anticipates spending a record $117 million from the general fund, $12 million from special revenue funds and $9.8 million from the city’s capital projects fund.

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Brocato proposed to spend about $7.7 million in capital projects, including:

• $2 million for street paving
• More than $1 million for the previously mentioned vehicles
• About $1.2 million in improvements at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex (including a new scoreboard at the stadium)
• $960,000 in additional money for widening Valleydale Road
• $500,000 in additional money for improvements on South Shades Crest Road
• $463,000 for information technology improvements
• $450,000 for a virtual critical incident simulator and furniture at a planned police training facility
• $420,000 for phase two of a new street lighting system on U.S. 31 between Patton Chapel Road and Interstate 65
• $250,000 for building maintenance at the Hoover Public Safety Center
• $200,000 for drainage improvements on Marywood Lane
• $150,000 for intersection signal modifications at U.S. 31 and Deo Dara Drive
• $130,000 for a new playground surface at Veterans Park
• $120,000 to complete an upgrade of an Inverness sewer pump station
• $100,000 for improvements at Georgetown Park

The projected $125 million in revenues for the 2019 general fund compares to $111 million that was originally projected for the 2018 general fund.

The mayor asked the council to review his proposal and pass a budget before the new fiscal year starts on Oct. 1. Hoover Council President Gene Smith said the council may not be ready to pass a budget by the Sept. 17 council meeting and may have to call a special meeting to get a budget approved before Oct. 1.

Photo by Michael Seale/Patch