The Montgomery City Council approved the city’s $353.2 million budget, but not without some disagreement.
A copy of the budget, which takes effect Oct. 1, can be found here.
The budget passed on a 6-3 vote after some heated discussion, and the council turned down a raise for firemen.
The disagreement came over how much leftover money from the 2025 budget would be carried over into the 2026 budget. Council President Cornelius Calhoun wanted specifics, but Councilors Ed Grimes and Andrew Syzmanski said that the exact amounts wouldn’t be known for four to six weeks. Syzmanski said this is the way the city council always does the budget.
“There is a balancing that happens at the end of the year,” Syzmanski said. "It gets moved every year. It gets done every year.”
Mayor Steven Reed criticized the timing of the discussion, accusing “some outside crowd” of influencing the council to disrupt the budget process.
“The question I have is why are we disrupting and sabotaging the budget and what we can be doing for the city of Montgomery?” he asked. “We know we have major issues to address based on what some outside crowd is funneling information to some of you on the council to ask and to say.”
City Chief Financial Officer Betty Beville explained that in the past two years surplus from the previous budget year, which the city called “fallout” funds, goes into a regular fund balance. She said $13 million of the surplus would go towards city equipment.
The council ultimately approved the fiscal year 2026 budget on a 6-3 vote.
Additionally, a vote to amend the budget to give a raise to Montgomery Fire/Rescue Department employees failed to pass.
At the previous meeting, firefighter John Norris told the council that raising pay would help address staff shortages and reduce overtime.
The measure was supported by Councilor Glen Pruitt, but he proposed a 5% increase instead of the 10% requested. He said the raise would not affect funding for the Montgomery Police Department.
“Last year we gave a 15% raise to the police department,” he said. “And right, wrong or indifferent – forever and ever – Police and Fire have gone hand in hand. If one gets one (a raise), the other gets one.”
His motion failed on a 5-4 vote.
Councilor Marche Johnson, who opposed, explained that she took issue with the number that Pruitt proposed, fearing that it was not enough to cover all positions.
The Montgomery City Council meets at 5 p.m. every first and third Tuesday of the month at City Hall on 103 North Perry Street. Recordings of meetings can be found on YouTube and Facebook. Agendas can be found here.
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