Ala. Code § 11-44C-49
After the conclusion of the public hearing the council may insert new items of expenditures or may increase, decrease, or strike out items of expenditure in the general fund budget, except that no item of expenditure for debt service, or any other item required to be included by this chapter or other provision of law, shall be reduced or stricken out. The council shall not alter the estimates of receipts contained in the budget except to correct omissions or mathematical errors, and it shall not cause the total of expenditures as recommended by the mayor to be increased without a public hearing on such increase, which shall be held not less than three days after notice thereof by publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in the city. The council shall in no event adopt a general fund budget in which the total of expenditures exceeds the receipts and available surplus, estimated as herein provided by this chapter unless at the same time it adopts measures to provide for additional revenue in the ensuing fiscal year estimated to be sufficient to make up the difference.
Ala. Code § 11-44C-49 (1975)