By Melanie Pattterson

The North Jefferson News



With the U.S. economy in recession, municipalities as well as families are in the process of tightening their belts.

Municipal clerks are busy preparing year-end financial reports for their cities and towns. The numbers, while dismal in some areas, do show increases in other areas for most towns in north Jefferson County.

Mayors, council members and department heads are finding ways to cut back during what many experts say will be a fairly long-term recession.

The Town of Kimberly saw fewer dollars coming in for sales tax last year ($137,751 in 2007; $123,790 in 2008) and for building permits ($57,883 in 2007; $34,856 in 2008).

There were increases in ad valorem, business licenses and court-related income from 2007 to 2008.

Kimberly Mayor Ralph Lindsey said the town is taking measures to cut costs.

“We’ve reviewed or are reviewing every single expense item we’ve got, with the particular goal to reduce that expense,” said Lindsey.

He said the town has reduced costs with several suppliers by getting “a number of things cheaper than we were paying.”

The town has also instituted a “very stringent purchase order system” that requires town employees to justify the reason for every purchase. The mayor must approve all purchases.

Also, while there is no talk of lay-offs, there will also be no new hires. Lindsey said the town will “operate with the people we’ve got.”

“We are trying to be really, really good stewards of the people of Kimberly’s money,” said Lindsey. “We’re just watching every single thing we’re doing.”

Lindsey added that the town of Kimberly has recently paid off all of its debt. “We don’t owe anybody anything right now,” he said.

The City of Warrior is also taking measures to cut expenses. The city council held a special meeting Monday to discuss ways to save money.

While it took no action, council members and Mayor Rena Hudson discussed the possibility of laying off city workers, cutting back on patrol officers and evaluating the budget line by line to try to eliminate expenses.

The city has also consolidated loans and enacted spending freezes in order to save money.

Warrior saw increases in ad valorem and court-related income from 2007 to 2008, but there was an almost $60,000 decrease in business license income. Officials said that was partly because the city was receiving business license revenue from arcade machines in 2007, but there were no arcade machines in 2008.

Year-end sales tax figures were not available for 2008, but Hudson said there was a $14,000 drop in sales taxes from October to November 2008.

Warrior officials have called another special council meeting to discuss city finances on Jan. 20 at 5:30 p.m., immediately prior to the regularly-scheduled council meeting.

One city in the area that is enjoying a boost in revenue is Fultondale, thanks to the city’s new Colonial Promenade Shopping Center.

City officials actually increased Fultondale’s budget for fiscal year 2009 to $9.9 million, up from $7 million in fiscal year 2008.

As of the end of fiscal year 2008, Fultondale saw increases in ad valorem ($257,685 for FY 07; $295,000 for FY 08); business licenses ($529,500; $605,000); court-related income ($267,274; $270,000); and sales tax ($3,565,811; $4,905,000).

One decrease in Fultondale during the same time frame was in building permits, which dropped from $235,000 to $190,000.

Despite the fact that Fultondale is in good shape financially, city leaders are still being “conservative and thrifty,” according to Mayor Jim Lowery.

Lowery said the city is pushing back several large projects for 12 to 18 months, including working with the county school board on a new middle school, building a new library, renovating the existing library into a public safety building, and building a small convention center.

“Due to the economy and because the bond market is really bad … the funds we were planning to put into those projects, we’re putting into a rainy day fund,” said Lowery.

Financial figures were not available from Gardendale, Morris and other area municipalities by press time.