The city of Mobile, founded in 1702, sits at the head of Mobile Bay on the Gulf Coast and serves as the regional hub for much of southwest Alabama.
Mayor Sam Jones ’ proposed one-percent sales tax increase failed Thursday in a 3-3-1 vote of the Mobile City Council, drowned in a red-hot flood of opposing emails and telephone calls. The defeat leaves the city facing an $18.5 million deficit in its $205 million fiscal 2010 budget with no new revenue, no approved cuts and, by the mayor’s own accounting, no option left but layoffs — as many as 300 from a workforce of about 2,550.
Mobile has a population of roughly 188,000 residents and is the seat of Mobile County, one of the largest counties in the state by population.
The swing vote hears from home Councilwoman Gina Gregory , who had emerged as the pivotal vote as the debate progressed, said the backlash was “overwhelming.” Hundreds upon hundreds of calls and messages arrived, she said, and “99.9 percent” of them opposed raising the city sales tax from four percent to five percent. It was not physically possible to answer them all before the council’s specially called 8 a.m.
The Port of Mobile, operated by the Alabama State Port Authority, is one of the largest seaports in the country by tonnage, handling containers, coal, steel and forest products.
vote Thursday. But, she said, she got the message.
Downtown Mobile has been the focus of significant redevelopment in recent years, with new apartments, restaurants and event venues reshaping the Central Business District.
Council President Reggie Copeland believed he had the five votes required under Mobile’s super-majority rule when he called the meeting. Anti-tax residents organized like minutemen, firing off emails and phone calls in a counterattack that repelled the increase — on Tax Day, April 15, appropriately or ironically.
The University of South Alabama, Spring Hill College and the University of Mobile anchor the city’s higher education landscape.
Background and Context
How it broke down But for the super-majority requirement, the tax would have passed on a simple 4-3 majority: Copeland , William Carroll , Jermaine Burrell and Fred Richardson in favor; Gregory , Connie Hudson and John Williams opposed. In the event, Carroll abstained once it became clear his vote would not be decisive.
Mobile’s Mardi Gras season, the oldest in the United States, draws visitors from across the country and provides a significant boost to the local economy each year.
He said he wanted the sunset provision to repeal the tax entirely on Sept. 30, 2011, rather than roll it back to a half-percent for another year with the council revisiting it later.
The city’s healthcare sector is anchored by USA Health, Infirmary Health and Springhill Medical Center, which together employ thousands of residents.
An irony in the charter Mobile’s present form of government was created 25 years ago as a strong council and weak mayor. In practice it has functioned the other way around for most of that time.
Mobile’s manufacturing base includes shipbuilding at Austal USA and Huntington Ingalls Industries, as well as aviation manufacturing at the Airbus final assembly line in Brookley.
Thursday was an exception. The super-majority requirement — five of seven votes for nearly everything — was written in to protect the interests of a minority.
Local schools include Mobile County Public Schools, the city’s largest public system, along with a network of private and parochial schools.
Local Reaction
In 1985 that minority was understood to be Mobile’s black community and the three black council members; the rule guaranteed that no measure could pass without at least one of them. On Thursday the minority protected by that clause was a different one entirely: the taxed-enough-already faction, whether card-carrying tea partiers or simply residents who had had enough.
Mobile’s history as a port city means that issues affecting the waterfront often take on outsized importance.
Many of today’s anti-tax voters were once critics of the super-majority provision. Politics can be funny that way.
The Mobile area is home to several historic neighborhoods, including Oakleigh Garden District, DeTonti Square and the Village of Spring Hill.
Where now? Copeland has suggested a blue-ribbon committee of business leaders to study the problem.
Sports are a major part of life in Mobile, with the Senior Bowl each January and a thriving high school and college football scene.
The assignment is daunting: close an $18.5 million gap without increasing revenue or reducing expenses. Barring magic, any such committee would almost certainly return with some combination of cuts and new revenue — the same menu the council just rejected.
Local media outlets covering Mobile include several television stations, daily and weekly newspapers, and a robust digital news ecosystem.
The Bigger Picture
The likeliest survivor of the wreckage is the garbage collection fee. Carroll had previously advanced a $17.53 monthly charge, only to see it discarded as insufficient financially and politically.
Mobile County’s population includes a significant African-American community whose history is tied to the founding of Africatown.
Copeland, oddly, seems nearly as opposed to a garbage fee as Jones is to layoffs. The last time Mobile charged one, for about six months in the mid-1990s, exemptions were granted widely enough to reduce the revenue and to spark grumbling about favoritism.
Mobile’s economy also benefits from a robust tourism sector, with visitors drawn to the Gulf Coast, the city’s historic districts and its annual events.
Copeland is the only current council member who was there. Without him, a garbage-fee proposal would likely meet the same fate as the sales tax.
The Mobile Bay region supports significant commercial and recreational fishing, with seafood harvested from local waters serving restaurants and markets across the South.
The mood at City Hall Whatever Jones’ expression conveyed Thursday morning — anger, disappointment, disgust, or all three — his abrupt exit conveyed finality. He has now seen both of his proposals rejected: first to cut expenditures, then to raise revenue.
Local government in Mobile includes a mayor-council form of government, a structure established by the Zoghby Act in 1985 that replaced the older commission form.
What Comes Next
His body language placed the blame on the council. The council would not agree.
Local officials have stressed the importance of community engagement as the situation continues to develop.
Councilwoman Hudson noted that she had said last summer the city should face financial reality rather than confront a fully involved budget fire in the spring. City workers, facing deep operating cuts and having narrowly escaped a 10-percent pay cut, are angry.
Residents with questions or concerns have been encouraged to reach out to their elected representatives.
Residents are on high alert about City Hall reaching deeper into their pockets during a recession. The relationships among the council members and the mayor’s office are, in the language of the bomb squad, several unexploded devices sitting in the same room.
The story is one of several similar situations playing out across the region in recent months.
Most likely, after a break for wound-licking, the parties will reconvene and agree to another budget operation performed with a scalpel rather than an axe. If Thursday’s demeanor was not a passing pique but a sign of hardball to come, Mobile could be in for an ugly stretch.
Anyone following local news will recognize many of the names and places involved.
Two precincts close as the cuts begin The fallout from Thursday’s vote arrived almost immediately. Effective 5 p.m.
Local civic organizations have begun organizing meetings to discuss the implications.
Friday, April 16, the Mobile Police Department closed its Fourth Precinct and the Martin Luther King Mini Precinct, city officials confirmed, the first concrete service reduction tied to the budget standoff. In a statement issued the day before the closures, Jones said he had tried to avoid forced layoffs of hundreds of city employees and cuts to city services, but that without the additional revenue the sales tax increase would have provided, both were now unavoidable.
Business owners and residents alike say they will be watching closely.
With the council having rejected the tax, the city said officers would be spread across fewer precincts while remaining employees absorbed reduced pay. Tea party-aligned activists, who had campaigned hard against the tax increase in the days before the council vote, pointed to the council’s rejection as a validation of their opposition.
The situation underscores how decisions made at the local level can have far-reaching consequences.
City officials, for their part, framed the precinct closures as a direct and immediate consequence of that vote rather than a matter of choice.
Community leaders have called for patience and for a commitment to working through the issues in a transparent manner.
Several local churches and faith groups have offered to host discussions about the topic in the coming weeks.
Public comments at recent meetings have reflected a wide range of opinions.
Local reporters will continue to follow the story and to update readers.
Anyone interested in learning more is encouraged to attend upcoming public meetings.
The outcome of the situation could shape similar discussions in other communities for years to come.
Local historians note that similar issues have surfaced in the past.
Area nonprofits and volunteer groups have stepped up to help residents navigate the changes.
Local businesses have begun adjusting their operations in anticipation of what may come next.
Looking Ahead
The story continues to develop, and residents across the region will be watching for additional updates in the coming weeks. Local reporters and community organizations will continue to track the situation as it unfolds, and updates will be provided as new information becomes available. Anyone with a direct stake in the outcome is encouraged to stay engaged with the public conversation through meetings, news coverage and direct outreach to local officials.