Birmingham Mayor Proposes Budget With Employee Pay Raises, More Neighborhood Funds
Birmingham City Mayor William Bell wants to give employees a pay raise, spend more money tearing down dilapidated houses and buy body cameras for police.
In his fiscal 2017 budget presented to the council Tuesday, Bell proposed a 1 percent cost of living raise and 5 merit raise for employees.
The mayor also proposes increasing the amount allocated to each of the city’s 99 neighborhood associations from $2,000 to $5,000. A total of about $2.7 million would be spent on weed abatement and the demolition of dilapidated houses. In an effort to combat crime, the mayor said he wants to spend $840,000 expanding the Shot Spotter systems that detects the discharge of weapons and equip police officers with body cameras. This would cost $1 million.
The $420 million budget represents an increase of about 4 percent over the previous year.
Under the city’s Mayor Council Act, the may is responsible for presenting the budget, but it must be approved by the council and there must be public input.
A public hearing on the budget is set for May 25th. The city’s budget year begins July 1.
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