By William C. Singleton III
Journal contributor
The Hoover City Council this month approved a $146 million 2014-2015 fiscal budget that includes a 2 percent cost of living raise for city employees and about $23 million to improve roads, sidewalks and parks within the city.
But the city’s decision not to increase its annual contribution to the city school system drew criticism from one council member and from Hoover residents.
Councilman John Greene, whose wife is a Hoover school assistant superintendent, said he regrets the budget didn’t include more money for schools.
“In my opinion, there is room in this budget to increase funding for the schools and still maintain quality services now provided to the citizens as well as fund the employees’ cost of living raise,” he said.
The budget includes $2 million for city schools, the amount city officials contributed last year. Greene voted against the budget, which passed 6-1.
Hoover resident Dennis Quirk also questioned why city officials didn’t give the school system more money. Quirk started an online petition calling on the city to increase this year’s contribution to the school system to $8 million in light of the school district’s financial struggles.
He asked how the council arrived at the $2 million contribution to city schools.
Council President Jack Wright said the city school system received about $85.6 million from a one-cent sales tax the Jefferson County Commission passed in 2007. Funds from the penny tax raised the school system’s reserves to more than $150 million.
“The city reduced its share to $2 million since all the money would be doing is adding to the surplus,” Wright said.
Wright said that even with the school system drawing on its reserve account, it has more money ($90 million) than the city does in its reserve account ($32 million).
Quirk responded by saying the school system is running a deficit each year, experiencing funding cuts on the federal and state level but steadily increasing enrollment.
“We can’t control what the federal and state governments do,” he said. “But we as the city leaders and the city of Hoover can control what we do to support (city schools). At some point in time, that deficit is going to catch up to us.”
Wright said School Superintendent Andy Craig never asked for more money.
“Mr. Craig expressed that the school system is in wonderful financial shape and made no request for additional funds,” he said. “And since Mr. Craig runs the school system as we speak and there’s been no request for additional funding, it’s a moot point to ask the council for additional funding.”
Craig has since announced he’s resigning as superintendent and taking a position with the State Department of Education.
Quirk then asked if the city would increase the amount to schools if Craig or a future superintendent asks.
Wright said city officials would if Craig or any future superintendent could justify the numbers.
The budget also includes a cost of living adjustment (COLA) which will impact about 750 city employees and cost Hoover about $1 million. Mayor Gary Ivey said the city also absorbed insurance increases to the tune of about $82,000, increases that otherwise would have been passed on to employees.
The budget also includes about $9 million for road projects, $3.5 for sidewalks and $3 million to improve city parks.
“We’ve got a lot of road projects and a lot of road improvements we need to take care of,” Ivey said. “It’s a pretty good-size budget.”
The road projects include extending Galleria Boulevard from John Hawkins Parkway to Old Montgomery Highway and widening Valley Road from U.S. 31 to Riverchase Parkway East.
The city also plans to invest in improving its parks facilities, including the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, the Hoover Recreation Center, Hoover East and Hoover Central facilities and possibly building more sports fields.
“All of our fields are overcrowded. We’ve got people playing ball until midnight, and we’re looking at our sports fields and upgrades to alleviate that for our kids,” Ivey said.
Councilman Gene Smith thanked the mayor and his staff for their work on the budget and said it meets the overall needs of the city.
“With 50 square miles and 85,000 residents, I think this is probably one of the most balanced budgets since I’ve been in office,” he said.
