One of the Birmingham area’s fastest-growing suburbs overspent its finances by $11 million and ended its last fiscal year in a deficit, according to a recent audit.

The audit conducted by Birmingham-based accounting firm Dent Moses, covered the city’s fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2024.

The report raised the concern of some council members and residents who say the city should curtail spending now to avoid deeper financial deficits.

Deficit spending in the city of Helena is largely blamed on the construction of a $45 million city hall and sports complex, which some have maligned as an unnecessary “Taj Mahal.”

“As a council and as a city we are going to have to tighten our bootstraps,” Councilman Andy Healy told AL.com.

The city’s fiscal year runs from October to September. That’s enough time to take action to avoid ending the year in the red, Healy said.

City Council President Alice Lobell referred AL.com questions to Mayor Brian Puckett.

Puckett said there was no cause for alarm. He called the audit a snapshot of finances that has passed since bond money was received to fund the major projects and replace money borrowed from city reserves.

Before the bonds were sold, the city borrowed about $3 million for its reserve account to jumpstart construction.

“I am very happy where the city’s finances stand today where we are strong in our reserves, we are still remaining to be fiscal conservative like we have always been since we took office,” Puckett said. “This was a clean audit prepared for us. The trajectory toward fiscal 2025 is very favorable for us.”

Puckett said cash for the bonds was received on Sept. 29. It was then used to replace money borrowed from city coffers with the rest going to continue the major capital projects. Puckett said the reserve account is restored with a balance of more than $4 million.

“We were paying cash for that while we were waiting on the bond to be funded,” he said. “Once the bond was funded, we then began the process of transferring from the bond account back to our general fund or our reserve account.”

The figures are not in the audit because that transaction occurred after the audit, Puckett explained.

Still, spending in all categories last fiscal year exceeded budget amounts. Those include $1.1 million for general government, $1.3 million in public safety and $1.2 million in parks and recreation.

“We’ve to look at where we can cut expenses,” said Councilman Healy, who was appointed to the council to fill an unexpired term in January. “There are some overages that we need to question such a drones and trips.”

The council in September 2025 approved $45 million in bonds to build the city hall and sports complex. Several residents had questioned the price tag and size of the new city hall and sports complex.

Home to more than 22,000 people, Helena has added more than 5,000 new residents since 2010, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Responding to criticism, Helena city leaders stripped out perks at city hall, including a shower in the mayor’s office. Yet some residents still said the $45 million total remained too high.

“We’ve got a small budget,” Helena resident Matt Herndon told AL.com in a story at the time. “Why in the world are we building a multimillion-dollar building, and can we afford it?”

Puckett defended the projects as essential to meeting the needs of the growing city. He said financing was managed responsibly.

Still, Healy said the council needs a clear explanation on the bonds, how the reserve account was replenished, and a plan to pay for ongoing debt amid increased spending.

“We are concerned about the reserve fund and the bonds,” Healy said. “I need to better understand where that money is.”

Healy said some spending on equipment including a new drone should have been delayed to cut expenses.

“We have got to curtail the expenditure in this city on items that could be categorized as wasteful,” Healey said. “We are taking trips that we may not all need to take.”

Healy noted that the audit concluded that there is no fraud or abuse in city management. Nevertheless, he called the report a warning that should be acted upon now to avoid more serious issues later.

“I believe as a city we are going to be fine,” he said. “The city is on the right path and there is a potential for a lot of growth, but I’ve got to better understand our position.”