Hoover's proposed 2027 budget, and the lines in it that reach Riverchase

The city budget is the one document a year that tells you what Hoover will actually do, as opposed to what it says it would like to do. This year’s landed at the September 14 council meeting. It is proposed, not adopted — the council is expected to vote on September 28, two days before the fiscal year starts October 1 (Hoover Sun, September 15, 2026).

The top-line numbers

All of the following is what Mayor Nick Derzis has proposed. None of it is law yet (Hoover Sun, September 15, 2026):

• $178 million in general fund spending, up 4 percent from the original 2026 general fund budget of $171.6 million
• $206 million in total government fund spending, including $10.4 million in capital projects and $17.7 million from special revenue accounts such as gas tax money and Municipal Court programs
• A further $22 million from the city’s proprietary funds, which include the sewer system and self-insured insurance plans — down from $28 million in the original 2026 budget
• General fund revenue projected to stay roughly flat at $183 million

The city’s own meeting summary describes the same proposal as a net $4.2 million increase in the operating budget and roughly $10 million for capital costs, with a 2 percent cost of living adjustment for city employees (City of Hoover, City Council 9.14.26 Wrap Up, September 14, 2026).

Two things worth noticing, because they are the kind of detail that does not make a headline. Department heads asked for about $8 million in capital projects and the administration cut that to $5.9 million. They also asked for 31 new positions at $2.76 million, plus $635,000 in position upgrades and overtime (Hoover Sun, September 15, 2026).

Where the money goes

The larger proposed items (Hoover Sun, September 15, 2026):

• $3.75 million — partial roof replacement, Hoover Public Safety Center
• $3 million — paving projects
• $1.8 million — increase for garbage service
• About $1 million each — police body-worn cameras and drone equipment; more stormwater drainage improvements in Green Valley; an extra $1 million for the Valleydale Road widening project; Fire Department breathing equipment
• $600,000 — stormwater drainage improvements on Kingston Drive
• $500,000 each — a new Hoover Lake House on Municipal Lane, park improvements, and property and casualty claims
• $450,000 — migrating technology systems to the cloud
• $275,000 — phase three of the stormwater system inventory and assessment

What actually touches us

Three of those lines are drainage: Green Valley, Kingston Drive, and phase three of the stormwater inventory. None of the three is in Riverchase. We keep saying this because it keeps being true — the city’s spending on water has been going to other neighborhoods, and the Glenwood Road storm sewer job we wrote about is still the only bid the city has open, closing September 30.

The one line with a direct Riverchase edge is the extra $1 million for the Valleydale Road widening project. The city’s capital projects status page describes that project as widening Valleydale Road from Riverchase Parkway to Business Center Drive, an ALDOT project listed at 95 percent through right-of-way acquisition (City of Hoover, Capital Projects Status). We have to flag that the status page carries no date anywhere on it and several of its target dates have already passed, so treat the percentage as unconfirmed. The budget line itself is dated and reported.

If you drive Valleydale at 5 p.m., that project is the one to watch.

On the reserves

The proposal spends more than it takes in. Overall government fund revenues are projected at $193 million against $206 million in spending, which the reporting describes as a $10.5 million drop in the overall government fund balance by the end of the year once capital projects are counted. That would leave $74.5 million in the general fund and $84 million across all government funds (Hoover Sun, September 15, 2026).

Drawing down a balance to pay for capital work is a normal thing for a city to do. We are noting the figure so you have it, not characterizing it.

Also from the September 14 meeting

The council voted to ask the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts to review questions raised by an outside examination of city finances. The city had hired Kroll to review records covering October 2020 through September 2023. Reporting on the vote is explicit that city documents do not say Kroll determined any city money was misspent, wasted or missing, and that Councilmember Robin Shultz said Kroll’s scope was limited and that the state examiners’ office has subpoena power Kroll did not have. As of the following morning the examiners’ office said it had not yet received anything from the city (ABC 33/40, September 16, 2026).

We are reporting that the vote happened and what the reporting says about it. We are not drawing a conclusion from it, and neither, so far, has anyone with the authority to.

What we could not confirm

We could not read the September 14 agenda or the September 28 agenda. Neither is posted. The city’s 2026 council meetings table lists “Agenda” and “Minutes” for both dates as plain text with no link behind it, and the agenda archive states that agendas are available only for 2023, 2022 and 2021 (City of Hoover, 2026 City Council Meetings; City Council Agendas).

That means we can tell you the budget was presented and that a resolution vote on the audit happened, but we cannot tell you what the roughly seventeen other resolutions on the September 14 agenda did. We are not going to guess at them.

The next council work session is September 24 at 5:30 p.m. and the next regular meeting is September 28 at 6:00 p.m., both at Hoover City Hall (City of Hoover, Official Public Meetings calendar). The budget vote is expected at the second one.