Birmingham BSD staff review budget, recommend sending balanced plan to city commission

A staff presenter for the Birmingham Business Improvement District reported that the district’s proposed budget is largely balanced and recommended that the board forward the draft budget to the city commission for formal approval.

The presentation noted the largest revenue item under discussion was a $1,200,000 special assessment billed for 04/24/25; “We have collected $407,000 of that for about 39%,” finance staff said, and the assessment bills are due March 24. The presenter told the board that collection typically continues through the spring and that unsettled amounts would likely be received when the county settles tax collections in May or June.

The nut graf: the draft budget assumes higher investment income than originally projected, some timing differences in expenditures and a number of targeted capital improvements. Staff recommended maintaining a healthy fund balance — roughly $700,000 — to cover about six months of operations and to retain capacity for future projects while still supporting business-facing investments.

Board and staff discussed several expenditure items. Staff called out higher-than-expected downtown maintenance charges billed by city public safety/maintenance (DPS) last summer and fall and said they were reviewing whether some charges should be charged to other events rather than the BSD. Staff also noted that investment portfolios are reinvesting at higher yields, which should support several years of stronger investment income.

On capital and one-time spending, staff described proposed items including office renovations, alley design/softening and an allocation for social media and marketing. A previously-budgeted $35,000 marketing line was reduced to $25,000 in the draft. Staff characterized the office renovation request as a basic refresh (carpeting, plaster/wall repair) intended to maintain public-facing and staff workspace conditions.

Board members discussed the trade-off between using fund balance to support business-facing projects and preserving reserves. One board member said, “I consider it truly high,” when discussing the current fund balance and the desire not to draw it down too far.

After discussion, the board approved forwarding the budget as the BSD’s recommendation to the city commission; the transcript records affirmative votes but does not provide a complete roll-call tally in the minutes excerpt. Staff reiterated that the commission will take the formal vote on the municipal budget.

Ending: Staff said they will continue to refine timing details and follow up on specific billing questions with DPS; the commission will receive the BSD’s recommended budget for formal consideration.