Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Mountain Brook Councilman Lloyd Shelton helps pass his final budget as a Mountain Brook councilman on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
After Lloyd Shelton gave his report on the fiscal 2027 Mountain Brook budget, City Manager Steve Boone called it Shelton’s “last rodeo.”
“Boone's giving me a hard time,” Shelton said. “My term ends next November, so the municipal election will be, I guess, summer of '27. I will have served three terms. I will not be seeking re-election.
“I turn 65 next year,” he continued. “Got my first grandchild, cancer survivor. I just got some other things I need to take off my bucket list. I've served on the Finance Committee since 2001. I think I've done my civic duty, so I think it's time to let somebody younger come in and grab a hold of the reins.”
Council President Billy Pritchard praised Shelton, an accountant, for his work on the budget. Shelton, in turn, praised Boone, Finance Director Jennifer Cornett and his fellow members of the city’s Finance Committee.
“I'm fortunate,” Shelton said. “I've said a number of times when I'm talking about my time on the City (Council). I'm sleeping in the shade of trees I didn't plant. There were lots of good people before me that put these things in process. I'm trying to keep it going.”
He likes to think of council members as volunteers who happen to be on the City Council, he said.
“We're not looking at the next 12-month cycle, and we're not looking at the next election cycle. We're talking about things that will have 10-, 20-, 25-year impact on the community,” Shelton said. “It's a much broader perspective in terms of just the stewardship of what makes the right sense in terms of using our dollars and cents.”
The 2027 budget approved by the council Monday night calls for spending $58 million in fiscal 2027, which starts Oct. 1. It includes $20 million in capital projects, such as:
- $6 million in renovation costs for the O’Neal Library, of which $4 million is projected to be covered by the Mountain Brook Library Foundation
- $2.5 million in estimated sidewalk projects, with $1.9 million of that covered by federal grants
- $1.6 million in infrastructure projects, with 80% of that covered by federal grants
- $1.2 million to make required upgrades to the sewer system at Mountain Brook High School, with $600,000 of the cost covered by Mountain Brook Schools
- $1.1 million for large equipment for the Public Works Department
- $1.1 million to replace Fire Engine No. 1
- $1.1 million for street resurfacing
“We have budget revenues of $59.3 million – 39% of that, roughly $23 million, is real estate taxes,” Shelton said. “We continue to be the only city in the state whose No. 1 source of revenue is real estate taxes. Sales tax continues to grow. It's budgeted to be about 26% or $15.6 million. We have expenses of roughly $49 million. We have transfers to capital project fund and debt service fund of another $10 million.”
The budget has a surplus of about $570,000.
“If we hit budget, our general fund reserve is set to be at about $23.2 (million), which is about 173 days worth of expenses in reserve,” Shelton said said. “Our target is 180 days, so we're doing well. It's a solid budget, and a lot of hard work goes into it.”
The council approved an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Birmingham concerning the large roundabout near Mountain Brook Village. The roundabout is a prominent gateway to Mountain Brook but is fully located in Birmingham.
“This will allow us to start maintaining the landscape of that roundabout in Mountain Brook Village,” Mayor Graham Smith said. “That is wonderful. The second piece is we will be able to add a piece of sculpture in time. We have an anonymous donor who's agreed to help with that, so we're designing a piece of sculpture for that.”
In other business, the council:
- Reduced 15-minute parking spaces at the Regions Bank at Mountain Brook Village from nine to one.
- Approved a 2.5% salary increase for city employees for fiscal 2027
- Increased the city manager’s salary by the same 2.5%, raising his salary to $233,194
- Approved a $358,385 2027 budget for the Mountain Brook Emergency Communication District
- Agreed to pay $904,300 to Dunn Construction to resurface ciy streets and $491,500 to Highway Management Systems to restripe streets
- Hired Skipper Consulting to manage a project to install flashing signs for a pedestrian crosswalk near Mountain Brook Junior High School and a raised crosswalk on Stone River Road at Furnace Branch Trail. The design services cost $30,720, and 80% is reimbursable from a federal grant.
- Approved a cost-sharing arrangement for employee medical and dental insurance premiums under the Local Government Health Insurance Plan, as set by the State Employees' Insurance Board
