By Keysha Drexel
Journal editor
Mountain Brook officials project the city will finish the 2014-2015 fiscal year with a $634,442 surplus.
The Mountain Brook City Council recently approved a $33 million general fund budget for the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
The new budget includes the projected surplus along with a $3.9 million capital project fund.
Two of the largest capital projects funded in the budget involve the Lane Parke development.
Lane Parke is a long-discussed $130 million mixed-use development that will include about 185,000 square feet of retail space, office space, the 100-room Kessler Collection Grand Bohemian Hotel and 276 luxury apartment homes known as The Residences at Lane Parke.
The planned development will replace the Mountain Brook Shopping Center and Park Lane apartments in Mountain Brook Village, which were in need of modernization, city officials said. The shopping center was built in 1955, and the apartments in 1948.
The new city budget includes $2.5 million for improvements on Cahaba Road and $1 million for upgrades on Lane Park Road. Both projects are part of the city’s Lane Parke development agreement.
The approved budget also includes a $829,205 grant-funded sidewalk construction project. The city expects to spend about $173,205 on the project after receiving grants of about $656,000.
The capital project fund also includes $445,000 for computers and software for the Mountain Brook Police Department’s patrol units and $428,000 for a fire pumper for the Mountain Brook Fire Department. The city will spend $260,000 on self-contained breathing apparatus helmet replacements for all its firefighters in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
The Emmet O’Neal Library will get a $159,000 upgrade, with money budgeted for new carpet, furniture, painting and elevator repairs by the city council.
The city is paying $84,000 to add restrooms at two Mountain Brook elementary schools and $55,000 for generators for traffic signals on U.S. 280.
The new budget also includes $220,000 for traffic lights on Dexter Avenue at Vine Street and at Church Street as part of the Piggly Wiggly development.
The public works department was funded $145,000 for a street sweeper and $92,789 for a tractor. The new budget included $20,000 for a tractor for the Parks and Recreation Department.
The new Mountain Brook budget projects an increase in general revenue funds in the 2014-2015 fiscal year over those in the 2013-2014 fiscal year. That increase is attributed to a projected 40 percent increase in property tax revenue and a 28 percent increase in sales tax revenue.
