Jefferson County’s funding for the Railroad Reservation Park and Red Mountain Park, as well as money for dozens of non-profit agencies, could be in jeopardy because the county has other priorities, Commission President Bettye Fine Collins says.
The county’s $5 million arts and culture fund administered by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham began as a three-year initiative in fiscal 2005 and comes up for renewal in the summer. The commission will likely take a hard look at the program for fiscal 2008.
Also, $4.6 million set aside for other non-departmental agencies outside the county government will be examined.
“I think we have to get all these non-profits in and explain to them we have to address all the county’s needs, and I don’t know whether we’re going to have any money left,” Collins said.
Commitments by the previous commission to fund the park projects were done without identifying the money in the budget, she said.
“When they pledged $7.5 million to Red Mountain Park and the $2.5 million to the Railroad Reservation Park, they didn’t set aside any money for that,” Collins said. “There’s no money there to fill the commitment. We have to re-evaluate all of those previous commitments.”
The 14-acre Railroad Reservation park project downtown is part of an effort to reshape and revitalize property around railroad tracks that separate the city’s north and south sides.
Project manager HB Brantley has said the City of Birmingham committed $7.5 million, the county $2.5 million and that another $2.5 million would come from federal sources.
The Red Mountain Park property is north of Lakeshore Parkway, running 4.5 miles from an eastern boundary along Montevallo Road to a western endpoint near the Bessemer city limit.
“They passed a resolution, but the contracts haven’t been done for those projects,” Collins said of the previous commission.
Commissioner Larry Langford, who oversaw the finance department from 2002 to 2006, said the county established a venture capital fund in 2006 with $10 million.
“You can take money out of that fund because you’re venturing out doing parks with the money, so it’s the same thing,” Langford said.
Collins and newly elected commissioners Jim Carns and Bobby Humphryes spent most of last week reviewing the fiscal year 2006 budget. The three Republicans campaigned on holding open budget hearings.
They believe some capital needs were neglected in favor of parks and non-profit organizations, Collins said.
The county now turns its focus on purchasing and maintaining equipment for roads and transportation and to get roofs replaced and repaired, she said.
“It’s not only a priority, it’s what we’re supposed to do, and if we can take care of other things that’s great and wonderful, but we have to run this county,” Collins said.
Collins said capital needs include:
- Upgrading the security system in all county buildings.
- Replacing roofs at the county nursing home and at the operations center.
- Modernizing elevators in county buildings.
While reviewing the budget, Collins said she was surprised to learn of many unfilled vacancies across county departments.
“Most projects have been neglected because we haven’t had the men to do it with and the materials,” she said. “They haven’t had equipment in a long time.”
Humphryes, who oversees roads and transportation, said his department has 135 unfilled positions.
“It presents all kinds of problems because they’re barely able to do the necessary day-to-day work to keep up,” Humphryes said. “We’ve got projects that we don’t have the people to put on. We’re just getting farther and farther behind.”
Humphryes said he will inform the commission during committee meetings today that at least 78 of the vacant positions are critical and need to be filled as quickly as possible.
EMAIL: bwright@bhamnews.com
