GAMEDAY MOMENTS
MR. GOLF | 1C
West to play in two USGA championships
3-5C
Posters of UA’s game against Texas A&M
M O N DA Y , S E P T E M B E R 16 , 2013
T U S C A L O O S A , N O R T H P O R T, W E S T A L A B A M A
75¢
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
City on sound financial ground Mayor credits conservative budgeting for revenue increases $150 $1
REVENUE $44,189,826 EXPENSE
(millions)
1 $41,766,826 120
2014 p proposed p e
2013
$3.83M deficit 2012
2010
$130,563,497
$28,095,877
Taxes
$49,156,000
Fines $1,696,700
Property use $6,000
Taxes
Licenses
$21,836,500
Fines $1,551,500
2007 Projected Expenditures $96,349,504
2014 Projected Expenditures $130,563,497
Environ. Services $5,690,977
Environ. Services $7,327,576
BELOW
PassThru Taxes
Emerg. Manage. $301,286
Emerg. Manage. $389,915
$9.4M
Inspect./ Facility Maint. $4,367,397
Police
Agencies $10,034,408
$22,380,462
Fire/Rescue $15,628,426
TDOT $11,980,760
Comm. $1,181,408
BELOW
Agencies $12,316,073
Inspect./ Facility Maint. $5,042,063
Police
$29,077,421
TDOT $13,775,033
Fire/Rescue $20,146,370
2007: Other 5.5M, Finance 1M, Revenue .74M, Municipal Court .73M, Human Resources 1M,
Inform. Tech. 3M, Mayor/Clerk .62M, Council .19M, Planning 1M, City Attorney 1.37M.
2014: City Engineering 1.4M, Recovery 1.3M, Arts & Entertain. 1.47M, Fed. Programs .57M, Economic Development
.44M, Finance 1.26M, Revenue 1M, Municipal Court .97M, Human Resources 1.9M, Inform. Tech. 3.76M, Mayor/Clerk/Communications 1.27M, Council .29M, Planning 2.12M, City Attorney 1.55M.
By Jason Morton Staff Writer
A
s with any fi nancially successful business or household, the fi rst step is a sound budget. Some businesses may have looser requirements than others, and it’s not uncommon for a family’s fi nancial decisions to be based on hopes and guesses. But municipalities don’t have that luxury, and for the past decade the city of Tuscaloosa has, according to data
and experts, been doing it right. A look at the General Fund budget over the past decade shows almost consistent revenue growth. Likewise, there are similarly consistent increases in expenses, but for each year except one — fiscal 2009, which absorbed the surprise of the national economic downtown — at least $2.6 million was transferred to the city’s reserves. Even in fiscal 2011 and 2012, while still dealing with the initial effects of the April 27, 2011, tornado that raised expenses almost $4 million above rev-
enues each year, intra-departmental transfers from the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater and other funds allowed for $3 million and $4.2 million, respectively, to be stored in the General Fund’s Reserve Fund for Future Improvement. Mayor Walt Maddox, the man charged with submitting a budget for the City Council’s approval since 2007, said that allowing enough money to be kept in reserves is all part of the plan. “We’ve gone from conservative to SEE BUDGET | 7A
Twitter rises from obscurity to height of fame As messaging service debuts IPO, it will need to prove it can make money By Barbara Ortutay and Michael Liedtke The Associated Press
NEW YOR K | The Pope. President Barack Obama. Queen Elizabeth. Oprah. You. W hen Tw it ter st a r ted seven years ago as an obscure medium for geeks, crit-
ics dismissed it as an exercise in narcissism. Some thought it would be as intriguing as watching people gaze at their bellybuttons. But it quickly matured into a worldwide messaging service used by everyone from heads of state to revolutionaries to companies trying to hawk products.
were read. Bombing survivor Sarah Collins Rudolph, who lost her right eye and sister Addie Mae Collins in the blast, stood by as members laid a wreath at the spot where the dynamite device was placed along an outside wall. Rudolph was 12 at the time, and her family left the church after the bombing. She said it was important to return in memory of her sister, who was 14, and the three other girls who died: Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley Morris, both 14, and Denise McNair, 11. “God spared me to live and tell just what happened on SEE CHURCH | 7A
$61,495,000
STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
$16,248,500
2009 0
Licenses
BIRMINGHAM | Hundreds of people, black and white, many holding hands, fi lled an Alabama church that was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan 50 years ago Sunday to mark the anniversary of the blast that killed four little girls and became a landmark moment in the civil rights struggle. T he Rev. A rthur Price taught the same Sunday school lesson that members of 16th Street Baptist Church heard the morning of the bombing — “A Love That Forgives.” Then, the rusty old church bell was tolled four times as the girls’ names
Inter. Gov. Revenues
$23,539,393 Property use $84,100
By Jay Reeves
The Associated Press
2014 Projected Revenue Reimbursement $1,800,000 Inter-fund transfer $7,566,265 Other $3,682,355 Service charges $4,530,000
Inter. Gov. Revenues
2008 0
2007 0
60
2006 0
Service charges $2,230,600
$80,529,345 2005 2 0
$96,349,504
90
2004 2 0
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005 2
2004 2
2007 Projected Revenue
Reimbursement $1,200,000 Inter-fund transfer $812,610 Other $1,381,601
$130,563,497
$84,770,400
$3.76M deficit 2011
$16,214,362
REVENUE EXPENSE
downturn
20
$2.42M def. 2014 proposed
$3.48M deficit
$24,111,360 30
City of Tuscaloosa General Fund Economic
40
City of Tuscaloosa Water and Sewer budget (millions)
Tornado do recover ery
$50
Church marks anniversary of bombing
Now, Twitter is taking the next critical step in its evolution — selling stock to the public. It promises to be the most hyped and scrutinized initial public offerings since Facebook’s Wall Street debut in May 2012. To be successful, the company will need to become an advertising behemoth and prove that the same ser vice that has already helped change the course of h istor y c a n a lso ma ke money. SEE T WIT TER | 7A
15%
Americans who had ever used Twitter as of August
9%
Americans who had ever used Twitter as of June 2010
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Rev. Julius Scruggs speaks at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on Sunday during a ceremony honoring the memory of four young girls killed in a bombing 50 years ago. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is third from right. At left rear is his wife, Sharon Malone. The Rev. Jesse Jackson is third from left. Dianne Bentley, wife of Gov. Robert Bentley, is at rear right.
Syrian official calls chemical weapons deal a ‘victory’ By Ryan Lucas and Matthew Lee
The Associated Press
BEIRUT | A high-ranking Syrian official called the U.S.-Russian agreement on securing Syria’s chemical weapons a “victory” for President Bashar Assad’s regime, but the U.S. warned Sunday “the threat of force is real” if Damascus fails to carry out the plan. The comments by Syrian
56%
Americans with Facebook pages at time of its IPO in May 2012
17%
Americans who used Facebook several times a day at that time
Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haidar to a Russian state news agency were the first by a senior Syrian government official on the deal struck a day earlier in Geneva. Under the agreement, Syria will provide an inventory of its chemical arsenal within one week and hand over all of the components of its program by mid-2014. “We welcome these agreements,” Haidar was quoted SEE S YRIA | 7A
INSIDE: VOL. 195 | NO. 259 | 5 Sections Bridge 5D Classifieds 1D Comics 4B Crossword 5D Dear Abby 3B
Obituaries 2B Opinion 6A Sports 1C Sudoku 5D Television 5B Horoscope 3B Weather 6B
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RISKY BRIDGES Many bridges in U.S. are old and run-down | 4A ‘ALLELUIA’ Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra opens season | 1B