The Public Projects Committee met on April 21, 2026, to discuss and vote on a proposed $14.775 million general fund capital plan for fiscal year 2026-27, along with several routine permits, contracts, and reports. The meeting began with a presentation by a city official (likely the mayor or finance director) who highlighted the city's strong surplus history, uncertainty in SSUT revenue, and a focus on public safety, infrastructure, and quality of life.
The city official presented a recommended capital budget totaling $14.775 million, allocated as follows:
The official noted the city's general fund surpluses: $12.1 million (2021), $7.6 million (2022), $20.9 million (2023), $14.6 million (2024), and $12.053 million (2025, after $5 million transferred to public safety fund). He recommended three work sessions on May 5, 12, and 19 to discuss details, with council approval sought in late May or early June 2026.
Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Lanier, and thank you, members of the public projects committee. Before I delve into the details of the presentation, I certainly want to thank the team members who made it possible. First, I want to thank Brendan Moore and our operations department. Beginning about 90 days ago, they began organizing throughout 19 city departments a list of the general fund projects that need to be considered as part of this project. There was an extraordinary amount of work and detail that went into it. So you see 15 minutes of work today. One thing you will notice is that water and sewer is not included. This is general fund capital projects. The vast majority of our water and sewer projects are part of our 10-year capital plan that's paid for through a bond issue, and we feel like those are better suited for discussions in August and September when we're looking at our operating budgets. One is there's a heavy investment into public safety, which should be no surprise because that's where we know our most important responsibility lies. Number two is that there's limited large scale investments as part of this recommendation. There is a more of a concentrated focus on the fundamentals of what we do every single day, and you will see that highlighted. Number two is the uncertainty of SSUT and how that will play out in years ahead. So we want to make certain that every recommendation that we present to you encompasses those realities that we as a city are facing. So let me jump into the presentation, and as you've heard me say time and time again, the answers money. What's the question? The first thing I want to point you to is on the far right hand side. From 2015 to 2020, the average general fund surplus was 4.7 million dollars. So in context, when you look at our surpluses from 21, the city is doing very well. So if you look at 21, 12.1 million surplus, 22, 7.6, 23, 20.9, 24, 14.6, and this year 12 million fifty-three thousand. Note that and you saw this as part of our RSA presentation or Ms. Standridge's RSA presentation on March 24th. Uh we allocated $5 million into the public safety fund for the conversion of into RSA on October 1st, 2026. So in reality, our surplus was 17 million, but 5 million of that as part of the closeout on the audit. We had transferred into the public safety fund. But overall, very good numbers for our general fund transfer. You will hear a little bit more about this uh when uh Mr. Hand and Ms. Standridge uh reviewed the annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal 25. The budget that I'm recommending to you allocates 3.7 million dollars towards public safety. That's in addition to the five million dollar transfer that I just highlighted earlier. Again, the investment in the public safety, the commitment to ensuring that our firefighters and police officers enjoy the retirement system of Alabama and make that conversion as we've promised. 2.6 million is going into quality of life, 7.6 million into infrastructure, and 875,000 in city facility asset management. So let's start with public safety. Let me also note these are just highlights. As I was beginning my presentation, Ms. Standards passed out a couple of pieces of paper to you. One is categorized by funding source. The other one is categorized by operational category. They balance the same, it's just two different ways of looking at it. So if you have any questions on that, please let me know. Let's start with public safety. We're allocating 1.4 million for TPD vehicles. Four years ago, we began a take-home vehicle program for our patrol officers. This program has been incredibly successful. And so this will generate how many new vehicles, Director or Chief? 25. 25 new vehicles within the patrol division.