The City of Huntsville’s 2022 Budget: Workforce Development, Quality of Life, and the City’s Standard
Huntsville’s growth is known far and wide, and last Thursday, September 09, Mayor Tommy Battle introduced the City of Huntsville’s FY 2022 General Fund Budget to keep up with the City’s growth.
“Now that the 2020 census has deemed us the largest city in the state, we will continue our goal to be the best,” said Mayor Battle.
Yesterday, the Huntsville City Council met to discuss the specific details of the budget and to address any questions council members might have.
The budget proposed by Mayor Battle encompasses a $245 million operating budget focused on public safety, road resurfacing, mental health care, parks and recreation, and an increased focus on workforce development.
The FY 2022 General Budget represents a 4% increase in spending over the FY 2021 budget.

Penny Smith, the Director of Finance for the City of Huntsville, addresses the Huntsville City Council on the specific details of FY 2022 General Budget
According to Director Penny Smith, the Director of Finance for the City of Huntsville, this increase comes from a few changes.
Among these changes is a transition of the Office of Multicultural Affairs into the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Another change is moving Sanitation from the general funds to the specific revenues in order to make this Department its own fund.
“There’s more demand than ever for city services and we believe this budget allows us to meet those critical needs while remaining fiscally responsible in our spending,” Mayor Battle said.
As Mayor Battle noted, the FY 2022 budget focuses primarily on adapting city funds to an ever growing Huntsville City.
“More people plus more land mass means more to manage,” said Mayor Battle.
An example of this is an increase of 111 City employees over the last fiscal year.
This brings Huntsville’s part-time and full-time employment to around 2,978 individuals.
In total, the General Budget allocates $219 million to departments, the bulk of these being the Police and Fire Departments.
“The Department heads came with their ideas, their passions, their commitments for their missions inside of the city,” said Smith, “so this Budget includes initiatives and programs as well as just growth to meet all of the demands of our growing community.”
“Most got at best 99% of what they asked for,” said Director Smith.
One of these major demands that Departments seek to deal with is workforce development.

The City of Huntsville Municipal Building where the City Council Met yesterday to discuss the FY 2022 General Budget
Councilman Bill Kling, the Third Presiding Officer of the Council and Representative of District 4, asked how the recent labor shortages affected Department allocation of funds from the FY 2022 General Budget.
John Hamilton, the City of Huntsville Administrator, stated that much of the labor shortages came from competition with private companies.
To counteract said competition, Hamilton discussed the implementation of a 3% increase in employee pay, which remained the major crux of the conversation over the past week
Besides the 3% increase, there also would be changes to City employee Health Benefits.
The FY 2022 Budget allocates funds to move from providing Tier 2 Health Benefits to Tier 1 Health Benefits, with an overall 17% cost increase in Health Benefits for city employees, according to Director Smith.
Frances Akridge, the City of Huntsville Councilwoman representing District 2, asked how this focus on employee retention, competition, labor, and the mission of the City intertwined in this Budget.

Mayor Tommy Battle of the City of Huntsville discussing the importance of moving forward with the FY 2022 Budget
For Mayor Battle, raising the quality of life for City employees raises the quality of service and life for the City as a whole.
“Making sure your house is safe, making sure you have a clean city to come to, making sure that when people come here that they are proud of what they see” is the most important day to day process of the Administrative Departments and their employees, according to Mayor Battle.
For Mayor Battle and Director Smith, passing the FY 2022 Budget would mean a major success for workforce development in North Alabama, as well as a major success in holding the City of Huntsville to the standard of Alabama’s fastest growing city.
The Council is expected to vote on September 23, right before the beginning of the 2022 fiscal year on October 01.
For more information, https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/government/city-council/
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