Jasper Mayor David O’Mary announced the upcoming fiscal year budget at the Jasper City Council meeting on Tuesday. The budget for FY2024 is projected to be $35,500,000, which makes it the largest in the city’s history.
“It’s $500,000 more than the current year I’d get that will be ending at the end of September,” O’Mary said during a phone interview with The Community Journal on Tuesday afternoon. “Being on strong financial footing is beneficial to our city. A lot of ways. It attracts industrial and retail businesses and attracts more people to move here. It also allows us to do much more quality of life projects to make our city a better place to live.”
O’Mary said estimates show the city will have an ending FY-2024 fund balance of $27,222,000, which will be a $2,783,000 increase over the current ending fund balance of $24,439,000.
“Our city has done a tremendous job in managing its finances,” O’Mary said. “This isn’t me. This is department heads and employees working hard for several years to be more efficient.”
When O’Mart was elected mayor six years ago, the ending fund balance, also known as reserves, were just over $1 million.
“To be able to grow our reserves to more than $24 million this year and more than $27 million if projections for next year are correct, that is unprecedented in our city.”
O’Mary described the budget as being “conservative.”
“We want to be conservative, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see more revenue,” he said. “There’s a lot of good things happening in Jasper. People want to be here and be a part of that.”
O’Mary also said the new budget includes a 2 percent across the board raise for city employees.
“The state did 2 percent, so we followed their lead on that,” he said.
The mayor added that the financial improvements have been made without adding any tax to go toward the General Fund. The city did raise taxes by ,5 percent in 2021 for several projects, including paving streets, transforming Sherer Auditorium into a new Jasper City Hall and funds for industrial projects. That tax is earmarked for specific things and will end once the bond issue is paid back.
“It’s not easy to have this sort of turnaround. It takes hard work from a lot of people to make this kind of turnaround,” O’Mary said.
The council will vote on the proposed budget announced Tuesday at its next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
In other business, the council:
• Approved an event permit for the 2023 Foothills Festival, which is set for Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15-16, in downtown Jasper.
• Approved a request from city clerk Kathy Chambless for travel and seminar expenses for city prosecutors to attend the Alabama League of Municipalities Fall Conference Nov. 2-3 in Gulf Shores.
• Approved travel for Chambless to attend a municipal clerk’s conference Sept. 6-8 in Tuscaloosa.
• Adopted budget amendments to provide $691,000 in funding for the construction of nine pickleball courts near Swann Gym at Memorial Park; $71,000 in funding to replace the camera system at the Jasper Police Department and Jasper City Jail; and $31,000 in funding for new sidewalks and gutter work surrounding property at 1508 Fifth Ave. S.
• Inteoduced a budget amendment to provide $75,000 in funding for lighting at Frisco Park, in addition to resurfacing the park’s tennis and basketball courts.
• Approved paying city employees working the Foothills Festival at time-and-a-half their normal pay.
• Adopted annual Transportation Plan pursuant to the Rebuild Alabama Act.
