After the city of Birmingham had its computers hacked in March, the finance department was forced to use the old-fashioned pencil and paper method of keeping the books.
The problems began on March 6 when city officials observed unexpected activity that disrupted operations of the city's computer systems.
Since then, the city had to adopt the previous year's budget again as a working budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, then add amendments along the way. The current fiscal year began on July 1, 2024, and ends June 30, 2025.
Tuesday's action was the final round of updates and changes to amend the working budget before the end of this year.
"We're grateful for everyone's patience," Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said Tuesday after the latest round of budget amendments.
The computer hacking has led to a renewed focus on making sure the budget numbers match up.
"Everything for the most part is on par," Woodfin said. "There's still adjustments. There's still a steady cadence of information flow between the information department, legal department and finance department, to make sure that things are on par."
Woodfin hopes the hacking was an isolated incident.
"A lot of our focus now is on making sure this doesn't happen again, what we have to put in place," Woodfin said. "This budget also includes things to enhance and support our systems in making sure we don't have this type of disruption again."
A highlight of the revised budget is pay increases for city employees.
"This amended budget reflects our commitment to invest in our employees - three percent cost-of-living adjustments and merit raises of five percent for those eligible, along with longevity pay," Woodfin said. "That bonus is based on how long an employee has been serving as an employee for the city of Birmingham."
He credited the work city employees did to keep the city running amidst the computer hacking.
"These same employees have been on the frontlines when we had this network disruption in March," he said. "It's been extremely tough for employees. Their ability to adapt and adjust, whether it's using pen and paper, or anything else of that nature."
Woodfin's budget also emphasizes neighborhood revitalization funding. More than $20 million dollars will be spent for street resurfacing, sidewalks, traffic calming, and expanded blight reduction efforts. The amended budget follows $16 million approved in October to increase recruitment and retention of police officers.
The $16 million police recruitment and retention program includes a $10,000 bonus for new recruits and $10,000 in four payments of $2,500 each as a retention bonus for officers who have served two years or longer in the department. The first $2,500 bonus will be included in officers' paychecks later this month.
In addition to recruitment and retention bonuses, the program funds a take-home-vehicle initiative for officers, part-time reserve officers, and pre-academy hiring.
"Our shared priorities are clear: neighborhood revitalization and public safety," Woodfin said. "This budget continues our commitment to residents to pave streets and reduce blight in their neighborhoods. We are already seeing increased interest in the next police academy due to the recruitment and retention plan."
The amended budget includes $15 million for street resurfacing which pushes funding for street resurfacing alone to near $30 million over a two-year period.
In addition, the budget includes $1 million for sidewalks and $500,000 for traffic calming measures such as speed humps.
There's another $1.5 million for demolition of condemned buildings and $2.75 million for weed abatement.
The amended budget includes $2 million for Birmingham Promise, $1 million to the Birmingham Board of Education, and $250,000 to the early childhood education initiative, Small Magic (formerly Birmingham Talks). An additional $500,000 in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act will also be designated to Small Magic.
The city will also see an increase in capital projects. Nearly $10 million from the city's portion of American Rescue Plan Act funding will support 14 construction projects set to be underway in early 2025.