Mobile city officials rearranged their usual Tuesday schedule this week, shifting a required public hearing on the 2015 city budget into the evening in anticipation of a packed house at Government Plaza. Rather than convening during the traditional mid-morning slot, the council’s regular meeting and the budget hearing that followed it were both pushed later in the day, giving working residents a better chance to attend and speak.
Council President Gina Gregory said the hearing would follow the same format as any other public hearing, with the only real change being the timing. The regular council meeting was set to begin in the Government Plaza auditorium at 4 p.m., without the usual morning pre-conference session, followed by the formal budget hearing at 5:30 p.m. Speakers were expected to be given five minutes each, with organizers pledging to hear from everyone who signed up.
Two issues were expected to dominate public comment: proposed cuts to performance contracts awarded to nonprofit organizations, and changes to retiree health insurance. On the retiree side, the city’s proposed budget would phase out coverage for Medicare-eligible retirees over four years, replacing it with a $175 monthly subsidy intended to help roughly 775 eligible retirees purchase supplemental coverage on their own. Retirees not yet eligible for Medicare, about 381 people, would see their monthly premiums rise, with single coverage increasing from $54 to $103 and family coverage climbing from $140 to $210.
On the nonprofit side, the council was pressing for more detail on how roughly $2.4 million in performance-contract funding would be divided among community organizations under the proposed budget. Groups that rely heavily on that funding, including AltaPointe Health Systems, were expected to make their case directly to the council. AltaPointe, which coordinates mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability services across Mobile and Washington counties, faced a proposed reduction from roughly $957,000 the previous year down to $100,000.
The fiscal year 2015 budget was set to take effect Oct. 1, giving the council a tight window to finalize the numbers after the public hearing. City officials said updates from the evening session would be shared as the meeting progressed, giving residents who couldn’t attend in person a way to follow the outcome of both the regular meeting and the budget discussion that followed.