By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

HOOVER—The Hoover City Council approved amendments to both the city’s budget and municipal code during a March 21 meeting.

The amendment to the 2016 fiscal year budget included more than $6 million in expenditures.

The additional $6.085 million expense includes paving projects, three traffic signals, a new library staff member and 10 additional Hoover Police Department patrol officers, among other items.

The more than $3 million required for the city’s paving projects is coming out of gas tax money, which was previously unbudgeted, Hoover Financial Director Robert Yeager explained.

“It was never in (the budget) in the first place,” Yeager said. “We’re putting it in as an expenditure for the first time.”

The more than $1 million added to the budget for the 10 new police officers covers salary and benefits, uniforms and equipment, including cars and body cameras.

Each officer in the department is assigned a vehicle, and after one year, officers are allowed to bring their vehicle home. Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said this practice has helped the department “reduce our maintenance cost significantly” because each car is not being driven around the clock.

Body cameras are also given to each Hoover police officer. The Hoover City Council approved the purchase of body cameras for the police department in May 2015, and since that time they have been an important tool for the Hoover Police Department, Derzis said.

“I would say it’s been a fantastic tool for us, management wise,” Derzis said. “There have been numerous times we’ve been able to look back at the cameras to see exactly what happened.”

Revisions to the Hoover Municipal Code focus on the “code as it relates to municipal court,” Hoover City Attorney Charlie Waldrep explained.

The revisions do not change municipal court practices, rather they update and streamline language in the code, Hoover City Councilman retired admiral Jack Natter said.

“It clarifies certain sections, which basically makes it better for the city,” Natter said.

In other business, the Hoover City Council also continued two resolutions regarding the Hoover Sportsplex, one for a bid for a pre-engineered metal building and one to appoint a financial team for a bond issue for the project. Both resolutions have been continued until the council’s regular April 4 meeting.