Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin faces rare major opposition from the city council today as some members threaten to give his $554.8 million budget a thumbs down vote.

At least three councilors, Valerie Abbott, Darrell O’Quinn and Hunter Williams in recent days threatened to vote ‘no’ to the budget, saying that the mayor failed to address major issues, such as the need for more code enforcement officers, in his spending plan.

Abbott, the city’s longest-serving councilor, spoke harshly of the mayor’s budget during a recent committee meeting, saying the proposed spending plan lacked funding for what she called key priorities that impact residents.

“I just thought, I don’t even want to approve this budget because it’s not addressing the things that we complained about over and over and over and over,” Abbot said, her voice rising and her hand slapping the conference table. “We just keep complaining and nobody listens. Maybe you’re ticked off. Well I’m ticked off because I’m going to come to the end of my time at City Hall and we still haven’t accomplished anything.”

Woodfin appears to have short circuited growing opposition. O’Quinn on Monday evening told Al.com that significant progress had been made since Abbott aired her grievances last week. O’Quinn said he has pledged to vote no in solidarity with Abbott and Councilor Hunter Williams over issues they have raised.

O’Quinn said the mayor agreed to add additional code enforcement inspectors and create positions for officers who can issue tickets for violations. Currently, the only way to notify residents is through certified mail, he said.

“We’ve been working it out,” O’Quinn said. “The mayor gave me some assurance that city staff are on board and they are confident that they can actually fill the positions that are being created..”

The additional staff members would cost about $500,000 and, according to O’Quinn, the funding would come out of a line item for street paving.

Speaking at the committee meeting, Abbot specifically cited the budget’s lack of funding for employees in code enforcement and public works.

“I’ve been here since the beginning of the earth and nothing has changed. We still complain about the same stuff 21 years later that we were complaining about 21 years ago,” Abbot said during the meeting last Wednesday.

In an interview with the Birmingham Times, Williams said he, too, was willing to vote no on the budget, citing concerns similar to Abbott’s issues. AL.com’s efforts to reach him for comment weren’t successful by time of publication.

With nine council members, a couple or even as many as four no votes would not tank Woodfin’s budget. Still, a vocal opposition on such a major proposal from the mayor would represent an unusual rebuke by council members who have largely voted in lockstep with the Woodfin administration’s requests.

As its senior member, Abbott has been on the dais long enough to recall the previous system of budget approval. Before a change to state law in 2016, the mayor of Birmingham presented a spending plan and council members got to edit the budget before a final vote.

However, changes to the Mayor Council Act by the state legislature in 2016 — enacted during the administration of Woofin’s predecessor — largely took away the council’s ability to make edits to the budget. The new rules force council members into an up or down vote. According to the law, council members may make changes to the budget, but only with written approval from the mayor.

Woodfin did not respond to Al.com’s requests for comment on Monday. When his budget was initially submitted, though, the mayor touted his spending plan as one that reflects the basic needs of the city and took into account the requests of residents and council members.

“Issues always come up,” Woodfin said at the time. “What I’ve done a great job of doing is shutting up, just listening to requests, concerns, issues as well as desires from the council, from the public, and the things people want are literally in this budget.”

Still, grumbles from some argue otherwise.

Abbott’s comments harkened back to the old era of the city’s budget season, which often included a series of long, animated and often heated exchanges over what was in the budget and how much was proposed to be spent.

“The council has one little bit of power, and that is we can not pass this budget if we don’t see the things being addressed that we think are important,” she said. “We’re doing all the glitzy things that are so cool. I’m sorry I’m tired of cool.”

Council President Wardine Alexander, and Council President Pro Tem Crystal Smitherman, who chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, declined to comment on Tuesday’s pending vote.

However, Smitherman told AL.com previously that the 2016 change to state law created an imbalance of power between the mayor and council.

“There needs to be more balance in this process,” Smitherman said in May. “The council is very frustrated with the lack of power in the budget process.”

The fiscal year for the City of Birmingham begins July 1. If the council rejects the mayor’s budget proposal today, the city will continue operating under the current budget until an agreement is reached.