By Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Homewood Mayor Patrick McClusky painted an attractive portrait as he delivered his annual State of the City address at the Jan. 17 meeting of the Homewood Chamber of Commerce at The Club.
“Homewood defines itself as a beautiful mixture of charming neighborhoods, an unmatched community presence, incredible walkability and a tapestry of the most amazing businesses that any other 8-square-mile area would be happy to have,” he said. “Our businesses help us make us who we are and we’re lucky to have so many others just waiting in the wings to come into Homewood.”
Those businesses generally did well in 2022 as the city brought in $1.8 million in sales taxes, an increase of 7% from the previous year.
“If you talk to Robert Burgett, who is the director of our finance department, he will tell you that every year he expects the sales tax (revenue) to eventually go down. It just doesn’t happen,” the mayor said. “People shop here. People love being in Homewood.”
Homewood finished fiscal 2021-22 with an estimated surplus of just more than $400,000 in the general fund. The surplus was amassed without having to access any reserves, including the Economic Uncertainty Fund, he said.
The mayor pointed out several details from the city’s finances. Among them:
• Property taxes decreased by $200,000, or 3% percent, from the previous year.
• The city brought in $61,000 in business licenses, which was an increase of 15% over the previous year.
• The lodging tax of $930,000 reflected an increase of 30% over the previous year. He attributed this to the addition of the new Valley Hotel and the increase in visitors from COVID recovery and the World Games.
• Building permits decreased by $46,000, or 4%, from the previous year. The mayor said local builders report that renovations have been more popular than tear-downs.
McClusky cited several items that were on the horizon when he gave his State of the City address last year.
“Most of those, if not all of them, are either completed or are currently in the final phase of work,” he said. “Our stormwater master plan is done and we’re already beginning to work on remedying some of the more immediate attention sites.”
The mayor said the city has begun a study on establishing a city manager. He recounted the December chamber meeting in which attendees heard from city management experts on the subject.
“I look forward to the day Homewood can share in the benefits of professional city management, giving elected officials the ability to focus on strategic growth and future planning,” he said.
Once again, Homewood gave bonuses to all city employees “along with the largest COLA (cost of living adjustment) that we’ve seen in the last decade,” McClusky said. “We hope to continue on that path and we all want to take care of our Homewood employees as best we can.”
Addressing an issue that can be seen across the metro area, Homewood began a partnership with Lifeguard to provide EMS service care to its citizens.
“This Homewood-designated contract for EMS is something that we have never had,” the mayor said. “The safety and care of our citizens is of the utmost importance. Along with the fire department and the police department, who do fantastic jobs, this step was taken to ensure that our residents don’t call 911 and have to worry about how long it’s going to take for an ambulance to arrive.”
Speaking of police, McClusky said the city experienced an 11% decrease in overall crime based on a 10-year average. Specifically:
• Burglaries and robberies were down 25% and 32%, respectively.
• Vehicle thefts were up 27%.
• Sex crimes are down 31%.
• Homicides, while still very low, are up this year with the CVS and Wells Fargo incidents (Two men were killed at those locations in separate incidents).
All told, Homewood Police Department answered 38,500 calls for service during 2022. Those calls included 8,266 traffic stops, 7,067 citations/tickets issued and 2,479 arrests made in 2022.
Officers and detectives seized more than 30 pounds of drugs, nearly 200 firearms and more than $20,000 in cash related to crimes.
McClusky said a project that prompts the most questions is the future of the Brookwood Mall property. He said the property and project are unique because there are multiple owners and multiple municipalities involved.
“This is not only from a citizen-use perspective … as well as a revenue perspective,” the mayor said. “Since the property lies in the boundaries of not only Homewood but also Mountain Brook and Jefferson County, we continue to be engaged with each other so that we know that we’re all on the same page when describing what it is our constituents want and don’t want from that property. We hope to receive some updates in the coming months, at which time we will afford the property owners the ability to present to the public their proposed development.”
Homewood City Schools was named the No. 1 best school district in the Birmingham area and the No. 1 district with the best teachers in Alabama for 2023 by Niche. The school system was named one of only three districts in Alabama to have more than 20% of its teachers achieving National Board Certification, currently employing 45 national board certified teachers and 23 teachers pursuing the designation.
Homewood City Schools was named best community for music education for the past 16 years by the National Association of Music Merchants. There are 489 students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses in the 2022-23 school year, which is a record year.
The mayor said Homewood High School is ranked as one of the top 5 best high schools in Alabama by U.S. News and World Report. The high school has 10 seniors who received National honors this year, including three students who were selected for the College Board National African American Recognition Program
Strong Housing Market
According to information from the Birmingham Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors, the median estimated home value in Homewood is $538,000.
“We have seen a 12.5% increase in median home values in Homewood over the last year alone,” the mayor said. “It’s just amazing.”
McClusky said 390 homes were sold in 2022 in Homewood compared to 495 in 2021. That 21% decrease is partly due to a lot of people renovating after choosing to remain in the city. He said the average sale price in 2022 was $531,000 as compared to $470,002 in 2021.
“The median days on market were three,” he said. “Three days, and I’m not sure if that even counts the ones that were sold before the real estate market even knows that they’re coming on the market. It’s amazing. And 155 of those homes were under contract within 48 hours as compared to 215 the previous year, so a 28% decrease.”
The mayor said local Realtors cite the same reasons for people choosing to live in Homewood. It starts with the city’s location and proximity to downtown Birmingham. But there’s more.
“It’s the charm and character of our home supply,” he said. “It’s our award-winning school system. It’s our family-centric and tight-knit community atmosphere and our well-kept parks and recreation areas and our above average walking score.
“The things that we deemed important over the last decade – sidewalks, schools, parks, all that – we’ve taken a vested interest and put our money and our backing behind those things,” McClusky said. “And it’s coming to fruition now.”