Walt’s core belief is that the city will be a customer-friendly environment and the work will be open, efficient and effective.

In 2007, Walt established Tuscaloosa 311 as a non-emergency call center connecting people with their government. Today, Tuscaloosa 311 answers and responds to nearly 100,000 calls annually.

Even more importantly, it has provided a direct line to City Hall for every citizen.

In the city's darkest hours following the devastation of the April 27, 2011 tornado, and with 12 percent of Tuscaloosa destroyed, Walt provided decisive and compassionate leadership that was nationally recognized.

With 5,300 homes, businesses, churches and institutions severely damaged or destroyed; Walt passed Tuscaloosa Forward after months of public input. Nearly twelve years ago, Tuscaloosa Forward has provided over $100 million in infrastructure and set the table for a remarkable comeback. Since the devastation of the April 27, 2011 tornado, the recovery zone has experienced 5,425 building permits totaling $1.1 billion dollars of residential, commercial and civic investments.

Walt currently serves as a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and was named the Nation’s 2012 Municipal Leader of the Year.

During Walt’s first term, the Pre-K Task Force was developed to investigate and plan the path to ensure all of Tuscaloosa’s four-year-old children receive a quality pre-k education.

The Pre-K Initiative was born, which helps provide an opportunity for Tuscaloosa's children to receive a pre-k education in one of the nation's premiere programs.

Walt also created the annual Mayor's Cup, which has raised over $200,000 to go directly into the pre-k classrooms. The nationally recognized Tuscaloosa Pre-K Initiative is now the model for the state’s pre-k program.

Walt knows you deserve services that are accountable, innovative and effective.

Realigning and streamlining departments, instilling transparency, and eliminating bureaucratic red tape will ensure the best services for Tuscaloosa citizens, while maintaining one of the lowest major city sales tax rates in Alabama.

From delivering top tier water and sewer services daily to picking up garbage, debris and recycling to 33,000 customers each week, the City is investing in technology upgrades to provide elite customer service. Recent investments will begin to show returns in 2025 and 2026.

The foundation of our belief in accountability is Tuscaloosa 311 which continues to be the gold standard in connecting citizens with their City government.

Walt Maddox has led the City to historic investments for public safety and he wants to do more.

Today, 40 percent of the City’s operating budget is dedicated to public safety. In the past four years, the City has implemented top-tier salaries for our heroes in Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue and the Tuscaloosa Police Department. Mayor Maddox is planning more with all firefighters and police officers to the Retirement Systems of Alabama.

The City just opened a new state-of-the-art Fire Station 11, and will do the same with Fire Station 6 in 2025.

Within TPD, new and innovative units have been established such as the cyber division which leverages technology to keep our community safe with a recent investment in drone response and artificial intelligence. There has been an addition of a mental health unit, forensics unit, and human trafficking units to address evolving needs in our community.

Leadership is about being strategic and bold which is why Walt proposed and passed Elevate Tuscaloosa.

Elevate is vastly expanding pre-k, sending hundreds of high school seniors to college annually, investing in public safety and creating a new experience economy.

Over the next five years, beyond the investments in our children, Elevate is bringing Tuscaloosa the Saban Center, parks, riverfront trails, and a safer community.

Walt knows that our future rests with the next generation and we want our children ready to create, find jobs and invest right here in Tuscaloosa.

Prior to Mayor Maddox, West Tuscaloosa suffered from generations of neglect and disrepair. Today, meaningful and measurable success is happening, and this is only the beginning.

Under Walt’s leadership, the City has invested over $300 million into West Tuscaloosa.

• Noah’s Ark Storm Drainage Initiative which has eliminated or mitigated generational flooding in over a dozen communities in West Tuscaloosa.
• 2016 investment in Stillman College to ensure its doors remained opened to prepare the next generation of leaders.
• The LARGEST infrastructure investment in the City’s history with the upgrade of Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard and Jack Warner Parkway ($79 million). Phase 3, which will open up the train trestle, is scheduled to go under construction in Summer of 2025.
• Elevate Tuscaloosa investments: Western Riverwalk, Benjamin Barnes YMCA, McDonald Hughes Center, Kaulton Park, Odom Park, and Parker-Haun Park.
• Since 2019, 306 blighted homes have been identified with over 110 being demolished or brought to code.
• Revitalization of McKenzie Courts and Rosedale Courts.

Mayor Walt Maddox respects hardworking taxpayers and he spends our tax dollars wisely.

On November 18, 2024, the City of Tuscaloosa received a reaffirmation of its AAA credit rating by Fitch Ratings after a review by the nationally renowned credit rating agency. This milestone is elite and provides the City with the highest possible credit rating for cities nationwide.

Fitch Ratings noted the City’s “growing population trend,” and “financial resilience driven by the combination of its high revenue control assessment and high expenditure control assessment, culminating in an ample budgetary flexibility assessment.”

The City of Tuscaloosa has $300 million in annual operating budgets and $150 million in capital. According to the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, the City has the fourth-lowest debt per capita in the state.

Mayor Maddox has balanced the budget each year in office including through the Great Recession, April 27, 2011 tornado, and now COVID-19. Even with all the unprecedented challenges Mayor Maddox has faced, the City’s credit ratings are higher than the first day Walt took office."

You work hard to manage your money, and so does the City under Mayor Maddox's leadership.

Under Walt Maddox's leadership, a unique public-private partnership was developed to advance the arts and children's learning in Tuscaloosa.

Saban Center is a first-of-its-kind STEM and the Arts campus where education, experience and innovation meet. The Saban Center will have three distinct centers: State of Alabama STEM Hub, IGNITE and Tuscaloosa Children’s Theater.

Working with the Saban Family who has donated millions, Mayor Maddox has forged funding and operational partnerships with the State of Alabama, University of Alabama, Alabama Power, Mercedes-Benz, Parking Towing and many others.

The Saban Center will ensure that the City of Tuscaloosa’s students are ready to meet the challenges of a STEM driven future.