Gadsden's proposed FY 2024 budget would include $2 million in raises for city employees

Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford has submitted a $60,185,744 budget for Fiscal Year 2024 that includes more than $2 million in raises for city employees.

It’s Ford’s first budget since his administration took office in November 2022. He’s titled it “Gadsden F.I.R.S.T.” for “Focusing on Internal Resources Services and Training,” and continuing the theme, he said “for the first time in a long time,” it’s a budget that puts city employees first.

The mayor and his staff unveiled the proposal, a 6% increase over the Fiscal Year 2023 budget of $56.64 million, in a lengthy presentation during Tuesday’s precouncil work session.

Ford called it a “big day,” saying he and his staff had worked “tirelessly” on the budget, singling out Chief of Staff Brett Johnson and Finance Director Brandon Phillips in particular.

He credited former Finance Director Lisa Rosser for “leaving us in good fiscal shape” and for her help after her retirement in “helping us find and uncover” things in the budget — which he took ownership of.

“The previous finance director produced the budget,” Ford said. “But I was elected mayor, and this is the mayor’s budget. I want to take full responsibility for this budget.”

The proposal followed consultations with individual council members and with department heads. The latter meetings took place in a rented cabin at Noccalula Falls Park, where the department heads had an opportunity to make their pitches as far as their employees and their needs.

Ford has asked that the council suspend the rules and consider the budget during its Sept. 19 meeting, to help expedite the process of setting up the raises. Council member Larry Avery asked that it be brought before the Finance Commitee he chairs for discussion and a meeting could be held this week.

However, a parade of department heads spoke in support of the budget, which includes other investments in employees, restructuring of departments to improve efficiency and significant equipment upgrades.

Those department heads were grateful that their input was sought. Gadsden Public Library Director Craig Scott said it’s his sixth budget, and previously “the library’s budgets were always handed to me, I had no input whatsoever. This is the first year where I feel like the mayor’s administration was really listening.”

Under the budget, the city’s pay scale would be simplified and reorganized into 15 levels with 15 steps and automatic step increases, compared to the present 25 ranges and 48 steps that employees have found incomprehensible and not conducive to financial planning.

Starting pay for full-time non-first responder positions would be $13.25. It would be $14.25 for certified firefighters and $20.50 for certified police officers.

Ford said that would put police officers at or a little above the average compensation for comparable Alabama cities, and firefighters would be getting close to average.

Part-time employees would start at $10.50 an hour, although Ford said the budget consolidates some part-time roles into single full-time slots.

The impact: a $1.54 per hour average increase for full-time employees and a 57 cents per hour average increase for part-timers.

There’s also money for training and leadership classes for employees and managers, which city officials say will help develop new supervisors who have come up “from the ranks.”

The budget would add a full-time Animal Control officer (giving the department four); six part-time traffic enforcement officers to help control speeding; four full-time tree removal/demolition crew positions (to give Public Works a second crew); a food and beverage manager at Twin Bridges Golf Course; and consolidate part-time transit driver positions into full-time positions with starting pay of $14.50 an hour, up from $12.

There would be significant increases, an average of $4,900 annually, for administrative office assistants.

The restructuring would include consolidation of middle management in Public Works; moving security services into the police department (adding three part-time positions); and separating Parks and Recreation into four departments, with Noccalula Falls Park and Campground, The Venue at Coosa Landing and special events and the Mort Glosser Amphitheatre, or “The Amp,” splitting off separately.

The budget includes $2.1 million in new equipment, such as garbage, loader and police trucks; a paint striping machine; and a mulcher to use for river cleanup and maintenance. It also includes $5 million to put the finishing touches on the Gadsden Sports Complex at Gadsden State Community College and $630,000 for two revenue-generating investments: a water-based fueling system at Coosa Landing and improvements at Twin Bridges.

There also would be a defined plan for rotating city equipment and vehicles out of service.

An increased focus on special events such as concerts at the amphitheater and elsewhere is seen as a driver of revenue, along with new business development, growth in sales and occupational taxes, and price and wage growth.

The budget also absorbs the remainder of the city’s $1.5 million settlement with Gadsden Regional Medical Center over wrongly collected sales taxes.

It continues Ford’s focus on upgrading facilities and getting rid of buildings the city has no use for and both selling and strategically purchasing other assets.

The budget calls for a 25% reduction in outside, non-city government expenses, such as contributions to 501(c)(3) organizations.

Ford said those groups provide valuable services and the city can support them in other ways, but it’s a case of “putting Gadsden and our employees first.”

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden's $60 million budget would include raises for employees