Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle unveiled his proposed budget for the 2019 fiscal year at Thursday's city council meeting, which includes a 1 percent cost-of-living raise for all city employees and more money for road projects.

While the details will be hashed out at a city council work session Wednesday devoted to delving into the budget, the budget yielded some insight into the administration's plans for a new city hall.

Battle said the plan is for work to begin on a new city hall in about a year, which is an accelerated timeline from what city officials have previously discussed.

The budget includes $26.5 million for the new city hall complex toward a project with a tentative price tag of $56 million. City Administrator John Hamilton cautioned the city council that the price estimate could go up with increasing costs association with construction and that a final design from architects has not been submitted.

The city has been pondering a new municipal complex for years to replace the slender eight-story building downtown that's more than 50 years old and houses only a portion of city activities and activity ramped up following the approval of a downtown master plan last year.

Battle said no final decision has been made on the location of a new city hall, though an architectural study commissioned by the council last year and released in March established the best site would be across Fountain Circle from the current city hall in what's now the municipal parking deck.

That's also the location called for in the downtown master plan.

"It comes down to some engineering decisions and it will come down to some planning decisions on how to do that downtown plan," Battle said.

In the study released in March conducted by the architectural firm of Goodwin Mills Cawood, a third site on Clinton Avenue across from the Regions Bank tower was considered for a future city hall. But officials have settled on the Fountain Circle location in the same area as the current administration building.

Hamilton also reminded the council that city offices are scattered across about eight or nine locations in Huntsville and the consolidation of those offices into a single city hall would represent a cost savings.

As for the pay increases, Battle proposed city employees again receive a 1 percent bump in addition to step increases and longevity bonuses for those employees who may be qualified.

"The reason we decided on that 1 percent was it was affordable," the mayor said. "We have done small, incremental increases year after year after year since our administration started. This is the 10th year and this gives you about a 10 percent increase in your salary for the last 10 years. And you have to remember also that step increases - everybody in their second year up to 20 years, gets a step increase. (The step increase) averages out to about 2 to 2 1/2 percent."

The city council is expected to vote on the budget at its Sept. 27 meeting. That budget could undergo some tweaking following next week's work session when council members will have an opportunity to study and discuss the budget more closely.

Battle presented the council with a $254 million balanced budget for the 2019 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That includes $41 million for road projects, including $30 million for new road construction, as well as $27 million for city parks and recreation projects and $24.5 million for Huntsville City Schools.

Council members asked questions during the budget presentations by members of Battle's administration but none raised concerns that would appear to be stumbling blocks to the budget's passage.

"It's a good budget," Battle said. "You have about $4 million more in sales tax but that's eaten up pretty quick with your cost of living raise and longevity pay. A lot of our money is in payroll, 72 percent of our funds are in payroll. That's a lot of money sitting in payroll. I think we have flexibility to do what we have to do but we're definitely not flush with cash. And that's the way it should be. In government, I don't think you should ever have as much money as you ever want to have so you say you have enough for everything. You should have to prioritize."