Huntsville City Council amends and approves contentious budget

During its regular meeting on September 28, the Huntsville City Council approved Huntsville’s 2024 fiscal year budget, which begins on October 1, 2023, with amendments authorizing a new position prioritizing affordable housing and allocating $25,000 to United Cerebral Palsy.

The 2024 fiscal year budget was amended, as suggested by Councilmember Devyn Keith, to “increase the authorized strength of the Community Development Department…by one full time position.”

Additionally, the manager of the Community Development Department will be directed to develop a comprehensive plan to address the issues surrounding affordable accessible and homeless housing within the city of Huntsville, which is to be presented to city council by June 13th, 2024 so any resulting programing will be considered within Huntsville’s 2025 budget.

“I think we need to put together a comprehensive plan that can be led by a person, an individual, not just a number of ideas,” Keith said.

He elaborated that ideally individual guidance would fall under the leadership of someone like Shane Davis, Director of Urban Economic Development, to “create a comprehensive plan that we can then consider when it comes to the budget of how we afford, support and create housing, especially in places I would just say that are becoming outpaced with rents and feeder patterns that are really pushing a large amount of our working population outside of the core of this city.”

Before the approval of the amendment, Davis said that Urban Economic Development is in favor of such a plan. As the amendment has been approved, a job must be written, graded, and posted before a position for a single point of contact can be filled. Davis said he believes the measures proposed to the council next year will be a “laundry list” of implementations. 

Keith additionally proposed an additional amendment to the budget that would transfer $25,000 from the 1990 Capital Plan to United Cerebral Palsy to be used in accordance with an application sent to the city’s finance department that was initially rejected. Council member Dr. Jennie Robinson amended that proposal to instead redirect funds from the city council’s operating budget rather than the 1990 Capital Plan. The amendment passed as further amended by Robinson.

Councilperson John Meredith proposed another fiscal year 2024 budget amendment which would reallocate 40% of the expenditures allocated from the simplified sellers use tax receipts and split evenly between Huntsville school system construction and capital improvements and the City of Huntsville Community Development Department’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

According to Davis, money allocated toward affordable housing would not be used in the 2024 fiscal year. Councilman Meredith withdrew the amendment, but the administration will present a line item or percentage to be considered for Community Development Department support to be implemented in fiscal year 2025 on June 27, 2024. While not part of the final amendment, Robinson said that although the school system does not have a capital plan yet, it should also be part of the fiscal year 2025 budget.

The City Council also approved a 2.5% cost of living adjustment for city employees, separate from merit raises.

 For more information about the budget, please visit the link here. To tune into future council meetings, please visit www.huntsvilleal.gov/government/city-council.