People's Budget Birmingham

People's Budget Birmingham is a coalition focused on giving you a say in how the city spends your taxes, supporting budget transparency, and creating policies to implement a participatory budgeting process.

After the murder of George Floyd, and the actions that arose around the nation in June 2020, People's Budget Birmingham was founded by eight local organizations. Those organizations include Black Lives Matter Birmingham, Adelante Alabama, SWEET Alabama, Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust, Birmingham Earth Coalition, DSA Birmingham, When We Fight, and Faith & Works.

People's Priorities Report

In August 2020 they created a survey to gather Birmingham residents budgetary priorities for the City of Birmingham's Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget. On August 31, 2020 they released a People's Priorities Report. The report included the results from 872 residents, which is 2.7 times more survey results than the City of Birmingham received for the Impediments to Fair Housing Choice study they released in May 2020.

The top four priorities listed in the report are 1) child and youth development, 2) food security, 3) alternative criminal justice models, 4) routine mental healthcare and wellness. The bottom four priorities listed in the report are 1) parking and traffic enforcement, 2) city attorney's office, 3) municipal court, 4) police department and law enforcement.

FY2021 Budget Controversy

On August 18, 2020, the Mayor of Birmingham released his proposed FY21 budget that included furloughing hundreds of city employees, while increasing the line item for the Birmingham Police Department by $11.2 million.

During the Birmingham City Council's public hearing on the FY21 budget on August 31, 2020, People's Budget Birmingham submitted the People's Priorities Report to the Birmingham City Council.

On September 16, 2020, in a discussion between the Mayor of Birmingham and the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Public Library (BPL), Mayor Randall Woodfin stated that the Birmingham Public Library would only receive $6.2 million from the FY21 budget, significantly less than the $12.8 million listed in the proposed FY21 budget that was publicly released in August by the Mayor of Birmingham. This resulted in the Birmingham Public Library furloughing 158 employees due to insufficient funding.

After the funding cuts were announced, People's Budget Birmingham worked with BPL patrons and library employees from around Jefferson County to advocate for the City of Birmingham to amend the proposed FY21 budget to prevent the furloughs and library closures. Many Birmingham residents, which included clergy, librarians, neighborhood association officers, and other members of People's Budget Birmingham, were prevented from entering Birmingham City Hall when they tried to attend the following Birmingham City Council meeting.

After being locked out of the previous City Council meeting, dozens of Birmingham residents showed up to the September 30, 2020, City Council meeting to speak out in opposition to the proposed FY21 budget. The meeting ended up lasting over 5 hours. During the meeting the Birmingham City Council passed the Mayor's proposed FY21 budget 6-3, with zero amendments to the budget.

References

• "2020 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice" (May 2020) City of Birmingham
• "BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL HOLDING PUBLIC HEARING ON FY 2021 BUDGET TODAY" (August 31, 2020) Birmingham City Council
• Webb-Hehn, Katherine (August 31, 2020) "Birmingham increases police budget by $11.2M despite demands to defund: 'People literally cannot breathe, and it's not because of George Floyd'" scalawagmagazine
• "The People's Priorities" (September 2, 2020) People's Budget Birmingham
• Prickett, Sam (September 16, 2020) "Woodfin’s Revised Library Budget Lower Than Expected, With $3.6M Remaining Until June 30" Birmingham Watch
• Prickett, Sam (September 18, 2020) "Library Board Furloughs 158 Workers Because of Budget Cuts Birmingham Watch
• Bracey, Autumn (September 22, 2020) "Librarians react to furloughing of library employees set to begin Friday CBS42
• Prickett, Sam (September 22, 2020) "Protestors Not Allowed Into Birmingham Council Meeting to Speak on Drastic Cuts to the Library Budget Birmingham Watch
• Wright, Erica (September 23, 2020) "At Birmingham City Hall, protesters angry over deep cuts to library Birmingham Times
• Pierre, Janae (September 30, 2020) "City Leaders Approve Budget Despite Concerns About Library System" WBHM
• Prickett, Sam (September 30, 2020) "Birmingham Passes “Phantom” Budget, Unchanged From Woodfin’s Proposal" WBHM

External Links

• People's Budget Birmingham website