HUNTSVILLE — The Huntsville City Council will review Mayor Tommy Battle’s proposed $385.5 million budget at Thursday night’s work session.
The mayor presented his budget for Fiscal Year 2023 which includes $281 million in general fund operations and $104.5 million in capital projects to the council at last Thursday’s regular meeting.
The work session is 5 p.m. Thursday. The council is expected to vote on final adoption Sept. 22, in time for the start of the 2023 fiscal year Oct. 1.
In speaking to the council last week, Battle said public safety, road resurfacing, infrastructure and quality of life improvements remain a priority.
“I’m proud that we’ve been able to present Council and our taxpayers with another balanced budget,” said Battle. “We’re adept at keeping operating expenses under control while still addressing the demands of a growing city.”
The general fund, or operating budget, represents a 7.1% increase over 2022 and provides slightly increased funding for most municipal departments along with a 5% cost-of-living raise for employees. About 68% of this general fund budget is appropriated toward personnel expenses.
“We’re investing in our employees because they do the heavy lifting for our community,” said Battle. “They’ve helped make us the No. 1 city in the country. In this highly competitive job market, we need to appropriately compensate employees if we want to attract and retain top workers for our city.”
The mayor is also requesting the council to approve significantly increased spending for road resurfacing and additional funding to assist more than 50 outside agencies – the city’s nonprofit partners in the community.
Highlights include:
- 19 new Huntsville Fire & Rescue positions
- 24 new Huntsville Police positions
- New fire station in western corridor
- $18.1 million for road resurfacing
- Funding to launch Restore Our Roads II: $800 million over 10 years
- 5% COLA for City employees
- $64 million for parks, recreation, and other quality of life projects
- $31.5 million for outside agency special appropriations
- $33.7 million for Huntsville City School
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