Council Passes FY25 City Budgets

Toward the end of a long near two hour meeting the Tuscaloosa City Council approved, unanimously, the major city budgets for FY25 tonight. They go into effect on the first day of the new fiscal year, Tuesday October 1st.

"I do want to thank Mr. (Finance Committee Chair Lee) Busby, the finance committee and the city council," a visibly relieved Mayor Walt Maddox said as he addressed the council and those in the council chamber after completion of the budget votes. "It goes by so quietly that our constituents don't realize the months of hard work that started in March and ended tonight in the adoption of the FY25 budgets."

Maddox praised the city hall staff and leadership for their work that continued the city's streak of passing the city's budgets on time.

In his 230-page Budget Presentation Maddox had outlined the budgets and discussed their impact on the city. The General Fund Budget of $198,510,791.00, an Elevate Tuscaloosa Budget of $28,848,938.00, a Water and Sewer Budget of $75,808,710.00 and a Water and Sewer Fund Budget of $38,023.00 will keep Tuscaloosa moving forward according to Maddox.

The budget deals with loss of sales tax revenue from an increasing number of Tuscaloosa residents making online purchases.

The General Fund Budget includes a full step increase for all City employees. It is broken down into 2.5% for public safety and 1.5% for all non-public safety. Paired with a cost-of-living salary increase of 4.5% for all non-public safety as well as 3.5% for public safety, in total, each employee group will receive 6% in raises.

The budget also includes another step toward converting the current Police and Fire Pension plan to the Retirement Systems of Alabama by October 2026. It sets aside a total of $1,391,434 in the Public Safety escrow to assist in paying for the conversion.

Also, in public safety the new budget allocates $1.2 million into expansion of TPD's drone program. The enhanced drone program will be shared by police, fire and other departments.

Improvements in the city's water and sewer system will result in an average monthly water bill increase of $10.59 in the water and sewer budget from each customer to pay for it.

The Elevate Tuscaloosa budget provides fund for education for dual enrollment scholarships, Tuscaloosa's Pre-K initiative, and Summer Learning Academies. There is also $2,500,000 for University Blvd Corridor improvements, $1,250,000 for completion of the Western Riverwalk, $2,400,000 for Tuscaloosa National Airport grant matches, and $250,000 to begin engineering and design work for the Northern Riverwalk Phase II.

Elevate also provides $1,000,000 for the Tuscaloosa Civil Rights Trail, and $2,818,041 for the Saban Center which is on schedule to break ground in April 2025 and open Summer 2027.

The budget bumps the average expenditure per household up by about $12 more each month on city services. The bulk of that being the water & sewer increase.

As the budget process moved forward Maddox repeatedly emphasized the need for transparency and accountability so taxpayers can see and understand where their money is going.

Adjustments will be made in each budget throughout the coming fiscal year as circumstances change.