Mayor Stimpson Delivers 2019 Budget to City Council

Aug 31st, 2018

"This budget is not just a projection of revenues and expenses. It's the next step in a long journey towards serving the citizens of Mobile as your faithful financial steward." - Mayor Stimpson

Mayoral Action:
Mayor Stimpson has delivered a balanced budget to the Mobile City Council that directs resources to the core functions of city government. The entire budget can be reviewed here.

Debt:

• Decreased annual debt service by $2 million over the last three years.
• Mobile has $279.8 million in long term bonds outstanding, a 30 percent reduction from a total of $402.4 million in 2014.
• With the assistance of refinanced loans, the City has reduced its interest 52 percent over the last five years.

Revenue:

• Revenue increased by $4 million.
• In the past two years, tourism has increased from 3 million visitors to 3.4 million.
• SSUT adjustments led to an increase from $194k to $2 million.

Challenges:

• The estimated uncollected sales tax from e-commerce is $11 million.
• Pension costs total $30 million, 50 percent more than what was required 5 years ago.
• Public facilities deferred maintenance costs will total $225 million over the next 10 years.

Public Facilities:

• Completed a full Facilities Condition Assessment of all public properties.
• Creating a plan to repair, replace or sell buildings requiring maintenance.
• Increasing spending on public facilities to $2 million.

Motor Pool:

• Increasing budgeted spending on motor pool to $8.1 million.
• As the City fleet has improved, the costs of maintenance and repair have decreased.

Public Safety:

• Increasing spending on public safety $2 million.
• Purchasing 3 MFRD pumper trucks and a ladder truck.
• Replacing and repairing fire and medical equipment on MFRD apparatus.