MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – City leaders want the Mobile County Commission and the school system to forgo future revenue along Dauphin Island Parkway as part of a plan they hope will spur private development.
The Tax Increment Financing District would create a fund that would pay for certain improvements, such as lighting, landscaping, parks and road upgrades. The hope, according to city officials, is that the public investments would make the area more attractive to private development.
City Council President CJ Small, whose district includes the area, said it has potential and could benefit from a push.
“If you look on one side of the Dauphin Island Parkway, you’ve got the Mobile Bay,” he told reporters. “If you look on the other side, you have Dog River. And then you also have Perch Creek. And that’s the most beautiful area that we do have in our city that is very un-utilized.”
At a special meeting of the council Tuesday, Small told fellow council members that the south Mobile area has been left behind.
“That area has so much potential,” he said. “It’s a treasure in our city.”
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The proposed district would include land around Mobile International Airport and along the DIP to the Dog River Bridge. Any property tax revenue greater than what the school system and the County Commission receive this year from the 1,527 acres in the district would go to a city-controlled fund to pay for the improvements. The amount of revenue collected would grow over time. According to city officials, property tax revenue in the area covered by the proposed district increased by $100,000 over the last five years.
By law, the Mobile County Commission must consent to the proposal. County Attorney Jay Ross said the commission will likely vote in the next 30 days. If it is successful, he said, the tax district could benefit both the county and the city.
“That’s the city’s theory,” he said. “The county, you know, would arguably support it if they vote in favor of it.”
Commission President Connie Hudson told FOX10 News that she has not reviewed the formal proposal but added that she supports the concept.
“Certainly, the Parkway would benefit from something like that,” she said.
The school board does not get a say, but Superintendent Chresal Threadgill told FOX10 News the system is open to the idea.
“As a school system, we will be in support of it, as long as it does not eventually hurt our schools,” he said in a statement. “Whatever we can do to help, we will do, and we would hope that if we have some projects in the future that would benefit our schools, that the city and county would support us as well.”
Small said three schools located within the proposed district – Gilliard Elementary, Pillans Middle School and BC Rain High School – could directly benefit from the revenue it generates.
Patrick Dungan, an attorney representing the city on the matter, said the mechanism has not been used much in Alabama but has been successful downtown where a Tax Increment Financing District has existed for three decades.
“As far as I’m concerned and from what I’ve heard from others, it has been, yes. … Huntsville’s had six or seven, I think, at this point,” he said. “And they’ve had good success with them.”
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