Gadsden City Council approved the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year on Tuesday during the council meeting.
The previous week, Brandon Phillips, Gadsden City Finance Director, attended the council meeting with a presentation of the budget to explain the budget in detail.
Expenditures
All but one department are under budget for 2025 as of July. The only department that is not under budget is the Car Pool department, which accounts for the cars at city hall.
The general fund, which consists of personnel, operating, capital, transfers and outside agency appropriations, will increase by a total of $6.5 million.
In previous years, the city had to supplement Twin Bridges Golf Club by $400,000 to $500,000, according to Philips. The past couple of years the club has been trending up, so the need is no longer there. With new estimated revenue from night golf and the Toptracer, Philips said the course should start bringing in money.
Personnel, operating and capital expenditures account for the increase, but transfers and outside agency appropriations have decreased saving the city over $400,000.
The personnel budget is set to increase by $2.3 million, but the percent of the general fund it is paid from has dropped. In previous years, personnel expenses accounted for 70% of the general budget compared to the 54% of the budget. The increase includes a 2% raise for Gadsden City employees and the increase of part-time pay rate from $11 to $12.
Two other factors for the personnel increase, which Philips said are out of the city’s control, are due to the Retirement Savings Accounts rates having gone up 3.2% and the cost of insurance increasing by $800,000.
Revenue
The general fund revenues have grown at a 10% rate since 2022, according to Philips. In 2026 the projected revenue is just under $75 million, which is a $9.5 million increase in 2025.
A new economic impact is the Gadsden Athletic Center (GAC), which is anticipated to bring in $190 million, according to Philips, along with new events at Noccalula Falls that he credited to John Moore, Gadsden City director of commercial development and community affairs, and his team.
Debt Services
In 2025, the city paid off the 2017 general obligations warrant, which was used to purchase the old K-Mart property in East Gadsden for riverfront development. The new total of debt will be $5.8 million. The city will pay off another warrant in 2026, which was used as additional funding for Noccalula Falls, the Riverfront and Gadsden Public Library.
“Just to summarize, we’re showing revenue growth, we’re managing our expenditures, we’re getting employee raises, as was anticipated in our new pay scale, so we’re able to do that,” Philips said. “And we’re paying off debt and getting ready for this new debt issue.”
The council approved the following budget: general fund $80,947,000; special revenue fund 9,961,869; debt service funds $11,566,517; enterprise and internal service funds $16,558,556; capital projects fund $9,540,930; capital projects fund two $8,338,045.
This also adopts the city employee pay scale, Gadsden City Council President, Kent Back, said. Copies of the budget are available in the finance and city clerk offices.
