Other Cities Projected Budget Woes

While its questionable about what Mobile city leaders projected for a future budget, other Mobile County cities saw the writing on the wall more than a year ago.

In Saraland, Mayor Ken Williams says he and the city council saw how things were shaping up, more than a year ago. They implemented a freeze on hiring and raises, and laid off eight people. Saraland has a general fund budget of about $15 million.

In the past two weeks, Saraland has been able to re-hire two of those laid-off workers. Because of its location, and the fact that it formed its own school district, the city has also become attractive to several economic development interests. Mayor Williams unveiled a 615 unit housing development off of Celeste Road as an example. Some of the other half dozen projects he can't yet talk about.

Just down the road in Chickasaw, city leaders said they also saw the budget woes looming, more than a year ago. City Councilman Ross Naze said a deteriorating tax base the council recognized more than a year ago, tipped them off to hard times ahead. Cuts were implemented then, and layoffs and salary cuts have been avoided. That's despite a significant hike this year in employee health insurance premiums that shot up twenty percent. Naze said the increase is being split between the city and employees.

Chickasaw's city budget is about four million dollars. But a majority of the city council is hoping to add millions more by re-introducing electronic bingo at the city's auditorium. A short-lived project was raided by the Governor's task force on illegal gambling in early March after only being open a few hours.