Robertsdale Council passes 2019-20 budget

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ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — The Robertsdale City Council passed a more than $24 million budget for the coming fiscal year at its meeting Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Among the largest expenditures for the coming year will be a $3.8 million project to replace the city’s Public Works Facility, which will be the second phase of the city’s Honeybee Park improvement project.

The city held a ribbon cutting and grand opening on Phase 1 of the park project on July 4.

Phase 2 will be to move the city’s Public Works complex to property the city owns north of the police station. The project will be funded by a USDA loan.

The city also voted at the Sept. 3 meeting to pass a resolution to proceed with the loan process.

Phase 3 of the improvements will be to construct an amphitheater where the Public Works department currently sits, a $1 million cash project which has also been budgeted for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

The city also has plans for a digital AMI meter project, which will be funded by a $1.5 million loan from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

In all, the 2019-20 fiscal year budget, which begins on Oct. 1, included revenues of $24,095,800, with expenditures of $22,178,771 and total debt expenses of $1,794,191.

That leaves a surplus for the next fiscal year of $122,838.

Once again, the largest surplus is in the city’s electrical department with revenues of $9,778,000 and expenses of $6,312,840 for a surplus of $3,465,160, which balances a deficit in the general government fund of $1,345,352 with projected revenues of $7,025,070 and expenses of $8,370,422.

There is also a budget surplus of $241,878 in the city’s water department with revenues of $5,247,000 and expenses of $5,005,122, while deficits are projected for the city’s gas ($33,604), sewer ($246,481) and sanitation ($164,570) departments.

In other business Sept. 3, the council:

•Voted to proceed with legal action on damages to the PZK Hall.

•Approved a bid from Tank Pro in the amount of $272,437 for the repainting of the water tank on Fairground Road.

•Approved an annexation request from Steve and Judy Lambert for property on McAuliffe Drive.