City Council approves $451 million city budget for FY2020

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The city of Birmingham now has a budget for Fiscal Year 2020.

The City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, July 23, approved the $451 million proposed operating budget submitted to them by Mayor Randall Woodfin in May by a 7-1 vote.

The operating budget represents a $10.5 million increase over the budget for FY 2018-2019.

More than $14 million is dedicated to neighborhood revitalization, according to a news release from Woodfin’s office.

“We are proud of the commitment to neighborhood revitalization reflected in this budget which will support our long-term commitment to the 99 neighborhoods,” Woodfin said. 

The money for neighborhoods includes increased expenditures for street paving, pothole repair, demolition and weed abatement. Half a million dollars is budgeted for code enforcement technology. The city’s Land Bank Authority will receive $1 million, an increase of $650,000 over the previous budget.

The budget also includes $2 million for the recently launched Birmingham Promise apprenticeships program for students in Birmingham City Schools.

There is $1.5 million for a high-tech “real-time” crime center for the Birmingham Police Department. 

Woodfin’s budget also increases the city’s contribution to the employee pension fund by $5.8 million for a total contribution by the city of $24.6 million for the new fiscal year. The pension fund will be fully funded for the year, according to the news release.

When the mayor presented his budget to the Council on May 14, he said the new fiscal year would be the first in years during which the city would fully meet its obligations to the pension fund.

This was necessary due to the “massive neglect” the pension system has faced for years, Woodfin told the Council.

The overall increase in the budget would be partially compensated for by a projected $6.5 million increase in the city’s revenue in the new fiscal year, along with $3 million in commercial construction fees and revenue from the state of Alabama’s recently approved gas tax, Woodfin said in May.

To read the proposed operating budget and amendments, go to birminghamal.gov/budget2020.