Clanton Mayor Billy Joe Driver proposed a $10.5 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but Clanton City Council members wanted time to look over the budget before they took action on it.

Driver presented the budget at Monday’s city council meeting. He said the recent municipal elections, which saw Driver re-elected to another four-year term in office, have caused a delay in the process of presenting a budget.

“The elections run so close that we’re running a little behind,” he said.

Instead of immediately approving the budget, the council decided to adopt last year’s budget and take the two weeks until the next scheduled meeting to pore over Driver’s proposal.

Last year’s budget was set at $9.87 million.

The council also voiced support for the mayor’s plan to include the replacement of a bridge on Higgins Ferry Road as part of the state’s Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program.

A project to resurface Higgins Ferry Road from Interstate 65 Exit 208 to the intersection with Lay Dam Road has already been approved for ATRIP funding, which comes with a required match of 20 percent.

Driver said the bridge is not in bad shape.

“It’s held up good; it’s just narrow,” he said.

In other business, the council:

•Accepted a bid for new dumpsters in the city. New Life Environmental submitted the lowest of three bids: $822 each.

•Opened bids for a plan to distribute weather radios to every residence in the city. The bids must be reviewed by a state agency prior to any bidder being awarded the project.

•Heard state Rep. Kurt Wallace present resolutions to the family of long-time Chilton County law enforcement official James Earl Johnson and to Bobby Easterling, who has served on the city council since 1976.

•Waived the business license requirement for the Clanton Kiwanis Club, which sponsors the Chilton County Fair each year. The fair began Monday and will last through Saturday at the Chilton County Fairgrounds.