Baldwin County Commission Special Meeting – FY 2024-2025 Budget Deliberations – August 12, 2024
Baldwin County Commission Special Meeting – FY 2024-2025 Budget Deliberations – August 12, 2024
On August 12, 2024, the Baldwin County Commission held a special meeting at the Fairhope Satellite Courthouse to deliberate the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget. Commissioner Ball opened by stating the commission needed to cut approximately $8 million from the proposed budget to balance it. The meeting served as a work session with no binding votes, but commissioners provided direction on numerous items.
Consent Calendar
- A motion to insert the special meeting call letter into the record passed 3-0, with Commissioner McKenzie absent.
Public Comments & Testimony
- None.
Discussion Items
- District Attorney’s Office: District Attorney Robert Wilters requested no increase over FY2024 funding and asked the commission to maintain the status quo. The commission expressed appreciation.
- Coroner’s Office: Coroner Dr. Brian Pierce discussed a request to become a full-time elected position with a salary of $80,000 effective January 2027. Commissioners noted that a legislative change is required and suggested the request should be brought to the state delegation first. Budgeting for the salary increase was deemed unnecessary at this time.
- Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance (BCEDA): CEO Lee Lawson highlighted the partnership’s achievements, including the Novelis project and over $7 billion in economic impact and 7,000 new jobs over 30 years. The commission agreed to reduce BCEDA funding from $480,000 to $440,000.
- Miscellaneous Appropriations: The commission discussed several requests. Proposed changes include reducing the Baldwin Pops from $5,000 to $1,000, increasing North Baldwin Animal Shelter from $5,000 to $10,000, removing Rafael’s Legacy ($500), eliminating the Gateway Initiative, and reducing BCEDA to $440,000. The commission also agreed to move appropriations for local Chambers of Commerce to membership dues, rather than miscellaneous donations.
- Archives Department / Bicentennial Park: The commission discussed capital requests. A $49,000 lawnmower and a $15,000 golf cart were not approved. A $133,500 aggregate for wheelchair accessibility was removed from the FY2025 budget. The Christmas Extravaganza event was discussed at length, with a focus on reducing overtime labor and seeking volunteers. Commissioners agreed to scale back the event to fit within a $200,000 allocation that includes overtime only, not regular work hours.
- Parks Department: New positions and equipment were discussed, especially for the new Kenwood State Boat Launch. Commissioners suggested exploring different mower brands and considering volunteer opportunities to reduce costs.
- Personnel: Director Deidra Hanak reviewed personnel requests. A request from Building Maintenance for a 5% across-the-board increase was dismissed by Commissioner Ball as not justified. The Reappraisal Department sought pay scale adjustments to retain staff, citing competition from Mobile County. Commissioners asked for more detailed information on restructuring proposals.
- Other Decision Items: The commission deferred a $250,000 video wall replacement for EMA pending a grant decision, removed a $50,000 vehicle request for Government Relations, and asked the Planning and Zoning department to consider cheaper vehicles than $55,000 trucks. The Probate Office’s request for a new position to manage motor vehicle and tag administration was discussed.
Key Outcomes
- The special meeting call letter was approved (3-0).
- Direction was given to reduce BCEDA funding to $440,000, eliminate the Gateway Initiative, reduce Baldwin Pops to $1,000, increase North Baldwin Animal Shelter to $10,000, and remove Rafael’s Legacy.
- Chambers of Commerce appropriations will be converted to membership dues.
- The lawnmower and golf cart for Bicentennial Park were not approved; aggregate for the park was removed from FY2025.
- The Christmas event will be scaled back to reduce overtime, with a $200,000 cap covering overtime only.
- The EMAs video wall replacement will be revisited in mid-year if a grant is not secured.
- Vehicle requests for Government Relations and Planning & Zoning were either denied or redirected to cheaper alternatives.
- The commission plans to meet again on August 26, 2024, to continue budget deliberations.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good morning. Welcome to the uh whatever day it is today, August 12th. Budget deliberations. Uh I've asked uh Commissioner Underwood is gonna lead us in the prayer as followed by the pledge by Commissioner Gruber. Please stand and bow with me, please. Fair Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for all the blessings you bestow on Baldwin County. Lord, we just ask you to be with us today as we work through these budget deliberation uh meetings, and Lord, we just ask you to give us the strength and wisdom and courage to do the right and best thing, Lord, because we know you are our one true and only source, and Lord help us to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money and ultimately your money. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Please join me for the pledge. A pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Good morning and good morning, Commissioners. Um, I get a motion to insert the special call letter. So moves got a motion by Commissioner Underwood. Second, second by Commissioner Gruber. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All right. So we're gonna start conducting the um the budget deliberations. Uh I just wanted to make a statement before we did this. Uh, these are just deliberations. It's just discussion. This is like a work session for the budget. So we're not up here today to make decisions, so we're gonna talk through some things today, um, but they're not finalized. So I just wanted to give everybody the heads up. This is not something where uh we are voting on anything today. So I think y'all are aware of that. But sometimes it may appear that we're sitting up here deciding things, but um to the last calculation I've we've got we have got to take eight million dollars off of our budget to get to back to where we need to be. Uh that's that costs everybody to have to shave stuff off of their budget. So um to get back to that. I mean, that's I I love the way that Roger and Beth approached this um last year. That if we don't have the money in our account, then we're not gonna over budget. So we've got to get it back to where we are. So uh great way to approach things, and um, I am gonna turn this meeting over to whoever wants to take charge. I think I I would think that would be best for right now. So uh district attorney has um asked to address y'all this morning, so I'm gonna let him come first. Okay, Mr. District Attorney. And if y'all don't mind up when y'all are on this table here, just always make sure your mics are turned on. We can you can go ahead and turn them on and leave them on if you want them to, but just make sure they're on so we're picking up the audio uh recording. I'd like to thank the uh county commission for uh all the support that they have given the district attorney's office. Um office uh without y'all's help, we would have uh we'd been in a lot of trouble. Uh we're able to do uh cover all the things that we are legally required to cover, plus uh a few additional things that I think will be helpful to the uh county and the people uh who live here and visit here in Baldwin County. Um I'm not going to ask for any additional money. I just would like to uh be able to get what uh what we got last year, uh, which would be greatly appreciated. I don't see uh the state legislature uh passing any additional funding sources uh for anyone.
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