Birmingham officials on Wednesday held their second annual budget town hall, in which the mayor broke down the municipality’s $582 million budget.

Speaking in front of the crowd at Boutwell Auditorium, Mayor Randall Woodfin said city staff work hard to let community feedback guide the spending document.

“Our priorities are your priorities. … The things you desire, the things you complain about, are the things we spend the most money on in neighborhoods,” he said.

According to Birmingham’s official operation budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, total revenues increased from the previous year, which was $576 million.

As he did last year, Woodfin held up a single dollar bill to the crowd and talked about how much of that dollar goes into one of nine categories. Here’s how those categories compared to last year’s presentation:

 

Category	FY 2024	FY 2025
Personnel Budget	76%	62%
Operating Budget	24%	38%
City Departments	83.7%	86.8%
Debt Service	4.2%	3.9%
Transit	3.0%	2.9%
Other Boards and Agencies	2.3%	2.3%
Redevelopment/Infrastructure	1.2%	1.8%
Non-Departmental	5.0%	1.8%
Youth Programs	0.6%	0.5%

 

Compared to the mayor’s presentation last year, major changes in appropriations occurred in the city departments and non-departmental categories. Costs for city departments increased from $464 million to $505 million. Non-departmental spending — which includes everything from pensions to employee parking — fell by more than half, to $10.4 million.

According to the mayor’s presentation Wednesday, neighborhood investments increased to $21 million from $18.2 million. Of that spending, sidewalk projects grew the most, from $200,000 to $1 million. Traffic calming doubled from the previous year, to $500,000.

Youth services spending has remained steady for the past three fiscal years, at about $6 million. However, the 2025 fiscal year did include an additional $250,000 put toward the Small Magic early childhood education program.

Transportation spending also stayed steady from the previous fiscal year, at $16.7 million. Woodfin said public transportation is often mentioned as a top spending priority, but he reminded residents that the state Constitution bars the city from spending state tax revenues on public transportation.

“It’s a local struggle and a local burden as it relates to how to get more resources towards more efficient transit, public transportation. A city like Birmingham, we have a significant amount of our residents who are working class, who need public transportation to get from point A to B,” he said.

Both Woodfin and City Council President Darrell O’Quinn recognized the council’s budget chair, Crystal Smitherman, who they credited with the idea of hosting the annual budget town hall meetings.

“It was really her who spearheaded this effort … . It’s a collaboration between the council and the mayor’s office to really bring more educational opportunities to explain where the city’s revenue comes from, what our expenses are and how we put together a budget for the city using your tax dollars,” O’Quinn said.

The city soon will be drafting a budget for the 2025-2026 year, due by July 1.