FROM STAFF REPORTS

Ever since the economic decline of a few years ago, officials in each Shelby County municipality have worked to help their communities recover. We spoke with those officials to get a snapshot of the financial health of each Shelby County municipality today. This story, the second in a two-part series, features Hoover, Indian Springs, Montevallo, Pelham, Vincent, Westover, Wilsonville and Wilton.

HOOVER

The majority of Hoover’s revenue is made up of sales tax, which has made for some tighter times during the down economy.

However, the city’s revenues are inching back up to pre-economic crisis levels. According to Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey, in the 2011 fiscal year, the city of Hoover brought in almost $13 million in revenues. In comparison, during the 2010 fiscal year, the city brought in about $11.8 million in revenues.

During the 2007 fiscal year, the city brought in about $12.5 million in revenues. Sales tax made up about 61 percent of the city’s revenues in fiscal year 2011, Ivey said. Other taxes made up about 21 percent of the revenues, and the rest of the revenues were made up of license and permit fees, fines, investment income, rents and royalties, among other revenue streams.

Ivey said the city is about $900,000 ahead of budget projections so far in the current fiscal year.

When the economy dropped, Hoover officials began cutting back expenses by restricting travel for city employees, cutting down on overtime pay by changing shift hours and keeping operating costs down. Now that the economy is slowly recovering, Hoover is in good shape, Ivey said.

“The city has been very fortunate with its conservative financial practices to not have to make additional cuts,” he said. “However, we do continue to be conservative in our budget considerations.”