Mobile City and County to Split $3 Million for Road Access Improvements at Austal USA

Mobile city and county leaders prepared to put $3 million behind one of the region’s biggest employers, with a vote set on an agreement to improve road access to Austal USA’s shipyard.

The Mobile County Commission was scheduled to vote Oct. 25 on a project agreement among the county, the City of Mobile and Austal USA. Each government would contribute $1.5 million, with Austal responsible for any costs above that. The work includes new access roads and turn lanes at intersections near the shipyard — improvements that would also ease traffic to the nearby AIDT Maritime Training Center.

In its public notice, the county argued the spending serves a clear public purpose: higher property values, increased tax revenue, additional economic activity and new jobs.

The stakes are substantial. Austal USA was developing, constructing and equipping a new steel-hull vessel construction operation expected to employ at least 3,300 full-time workers at an average annual wage of roughly $57,000, with about $100 million in capital investment in the facility.

How the agreement works

Under Amendment 772 to the Alabama Constitution, counties and cities may spend public money to support economic development projects, but they must first determine that the expenditure serves a valid public purpose and publish a notice describing the proposal in a local newspaper at least seven days before the public meeting where the vote is taken.

Austal USA, the American subsidiary of Australian shipbuilder Austal, was formed in 1999 and builds vessels in Mobile for the U.S. Navy, including Independence-class littoral combat ships and Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transports.