Officials in Bessemer will soon vote on a spending plan that would boost the Alabama city's overall budget by $2.4 million over the previous year.
The Birmingham News reports (http://bit.ly/PPYueo ) the Bessemer City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the $41 million budget for fiscal 2013.
The proposed budget slightly increases spending from $38.6 million in the fiscal year that ended Sunday. The new budget would include a 4-percent cost-of-living raise for city employees.
Mayor Kenneth Gulley says city workers deserve the raise and he's satisfied with the proposed budget. Though Bessemer had faced a projected $3 million deficit when the mayor took office two years ago, a penny-sales-tax increase helped wipe that out.
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Information from: The Birmingham News, http://www.al.com/birminghamnews
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press