Tuscaloosa Finance Committee Meeting - September 23, 2025: FY26 Budget Approvals, New Core Steel Donation, and Vape Tax Tabled
Tuscaloosa Finance Committee Meeting - September 23, 2025
The Tuscaloosa Finance Committee met on September 23, 2025, to consider a series of fiscal year 2026 budget items, including adoption of the general fund and elevate budgets, as well as routine approvals and a donation from New Core Steel. Notable discussions included decisions on pay plan adjustments, an increase in solid waste fees, and the tabling of a proposed vape tax for further review.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes from the previous meeting were adopted unanimously.
- Budget revision #19 transferring $40,000 from airport operating budget to development fund for access control equipment was approved.
- Renewal of the city's engineers' professional liability insurance at $18,700 (a reduction of about $1,600) was approved.
- Funding agreement with Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Commission for $750,000 for Project Warrior was approved.
- Authorization of general fund facility renewal fund and reserve for future improvements fund (including $1,146,000 for public works equipment and $126,000 for fire vehicles) was approved.
- Adoption of water and sewer fund budget, facility renewal fund, and reserve for future improvements fund for FY26 were all approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
No public comments were recorded during this meeting.
Discussion Items
- New Core Steel Donation: Chief Dell presented an unsolicited donation from New Core Steel of approximately $51,000 worth of extrication equipment (jaws of life, spreaders, cutters, airbags) to be placed on the station closest to their industrial site, improving response times. The council expressed gratitude and approved the acceptance with the condition that the equipment remain at the first responding unit.
- Pay Plan Adjustments for FY26: Ms. Standridge explained an ordinance suspending step raises to include one step for non-public safety employees (cost-of-living), two steps for public safety, and a one-time stipend: $500 for public safety and $250 for non-public safety. The total stipend cost was just under $500,000, funded by reducing contingencies from $1.3 million to $700,000.
- Solid Waste Service Charge Increase: A $1 increase per month for both residential and commercial solid waste collection was approved, as previously discussed in the mayor's budget.
- Vape Tax Ordinance: A proposed amendment to Chapter 7 to impose a vape tax was tabled for one week at the request of a council member who wanted more time to review. It will be double‑agended next week.
- General Fund Budget for FY26: The mayor's recommended budget was adopted with three changes: an extra $50,000 for Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports, an extra $150,000 for the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s office (funded from opioid settlement), and inclusion of the stipend amounts affecting all department budgets.
- Elevate Budget for FY26: Adopted as presented, including sales tax projections, funding for Freeman Park and Pool planning, and continued support for city schools programs (pre-K, dual enrollment, athletic excellence).
- Opioid Settlement Funding: Approved $250,000 for Freedom Farm (final year of a multi-year commitment) and $150,000 for Phoenix House, with further discussion needed for the DA’s office allocation.
- Agency Funding Contracts for FY26: Authorized the mayor to execute contracts, including the aforementioned increases to TTS and DA, and continued funding for Tuscaloosa City Schools’ pre-K, summer learning, dual enrollment, and the Athletic Excellence Fund (annual, not multi-year). The summer job program was noted as $100,000, down from a $10,000 increase last year.
- Unresolved Items: Two items discussed but not included due to lack of consensus: adding 20 unfilled positions to the TPD budget and site-line funding for the Weaver Bolden library branch instead of routing through the library system.
Key Outcomes
- All items except the vape tax were approved on unanimous votes. The vape tax was tabled by a motion, seconded, and passed unanimously to be considered the following week.
- The FY26 general fund budget was approved and will be forwarded to the full council with the stipulated changes.
- The FY26 elevate budget was approved and forwarded.
- The committee expressed appreciation for the budget process, noting minimal contention.
Meeting Transcript
Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. Minutes are adopted. Okay. Rolling agenda slide. Item number one under new business. Chief Dell. Welcome. Good afternoon, Council. Good afternoon. Glad to be here today. Today we're talking about new core steel. New core steel about a month ago came to us. They were doing a lot of safety training and some new stuff involved with their safety department. They've got a safety director, Billy Payne, who works really good with the guys at Station 4 right there in Alberta. They always have a really good working relationship. We go out there and train at least every couple months, just going through seeing what they do out there and the processes that they do. They saw a need though, they had a contractor on site that actually had some heavy equipment, uh, had an issue with some heavy equipment that needed extricating from that. Um they saw a need that hey, we need the the closest unit there to have the capabilities to do these extrications. And we've got some of this extrication equipment on on our truck companies and things like that, but we normally don't staff that on an engine that close. So new core said, hey, you know what, instead of us buying this, let's buy this for that local fire department. And so not only can it benefit new core, but it can benefit the community. And so to me, that's that was an unsolicited uh offer, and to me that takes volumes to what they do and and what they do for our community. So uh the plan tonight is to have kind of a kind of a thank you for them at the beginning of council to thank them for what they've done. Uh they're gonna have two representatives here. We've got the guys from station four gonna be here with that equipment so you all can see what they've donated. It was a 50 $51,000 um donation. So we've got everything from you know a lot of times you hear it called the jaws of life, the spreaders, the cutters, uh a RAM, things like that for all the heavy equipment uh so we can do those extrications, airbags, uh all that stuff that we've got within the city that's coming, but this puts it on another apparatus that allows us to respond quicker right there to that heavy industrial site. Okay, any questions or comments? Uh I just take it for granted. Y'all could use that as needed somewhere. Uh huh. They've they have asked that we keep it at the first responding unit to them. And that's what we're gonna do with motion. We move that. Uh we made that accommodation. I say accommodation. We it wasn't an accommodation. We we made it work. So we're very thankful for that. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, item is approved. Item number two, Mr. Holmes, resolution authorizing renewal of the city's engineers professional liability insurance coverage for 26. Yes, sir. This is the renewal of our engineers' professional liability coverage.
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