Flotte's Notes on Mobile, Alabama

Flotte’s Notes on

Mobile, Alabama

An Unofficial Encyclopaedia of Mobile & Baldwin Counties

Promoting local history, culture, outdoors, businesses, attractions, food, people, and places

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Demographics

Government

Education

Mobile Demographics

· As of the 2005 the city of Mobile had a population of 191,544, the Mobile metropolitan statistical area (MSA) had a population of approximately 401,427, and the Mobile-Baldwin combined statistical area a population of 564,013.

· The Mobile MSA population grew by 13.3% between 1990 and 2000.

· From April 2000 to July 2006, Mobile County's population increased by 1.1 percent and Baldwin's increased by 20.5 percent.

· From July 2005 to July 2006, Mobile County's population grew by 1.1 percent or 4,306 residents. That marks a significant change from the previous July-to-July period, when the population rose by 0.3 percent or 1,320 residents, according to estimates. Mobile County's population is building after declines in 2002 and 2003.

· It is the 70th largest MSA in the nation

· The racial makeup of the city is 50% White, 46% Black, 1.5% Asian, and 1.4% Hispanic.

· The median age is 34 years.

· For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 83 males.

· The median income for a household in the city is $31,445, and the median income for a family is $39,752. The per capita income is $18,072.

· 21% of the population is below the poverty line

· Mobile’s cost of living is one of the 10 lowest out of the 80 largest metro areas in the U.S., according to ACCRA’s Cost of Living Index.

Mobile Government

· The elected government of Mobile consists of a Mayor and a seven member City Council, which in theory operate on a weak Mayor/strong Council format.

· Municipal Elections are held every 4 years, and are non-partisan. The last elections were held on September 13, 2005.

· The city of Mobile has a 4% general sales tax and Mobile County has a 1% tax in addition to the 4% state sales tax.

· Mobile City Council District Map

· City of Mobile Website

· Executive Staff

· City Of Mobile Organizational Chart

· City Council Meetings Schedule, Minutes, Agenda

· Mobile 311

o Mobile 311 is a catch-all phone number for residents to call when they want city service of some kind, and CitiSmart is a program that tracks those requests and other functions of local government. Both were instituted by Mayor Sam Jones. Every situation that's complained about must be inspected within 72 hours.

Mayor: Sam Jones (2005-present)

City Council District 1: Fred Richardson (1997-present) (Vice-President)

City Council District 2: William Carroll William Carroll (2005-present)

City Council District 3: Clinton Johnson (1985-present)

City Council District 4: John Williams (2007-present)

City Council District 5: Reggie Copeland (1985-present) (President 2001-)

City Council District 6: Connie Hudson (2001-present)

City Council District 7: Gina Gregory (2005-present)

· Councilman Fred Richardson created a controversy when he wrote a letter on city stationary asking the school board to reinstate a Murphy High student who had been expelled for videoing the assault of a Murphy teacher

Budget

· Revenues stagnated from 1999 through 2003.

· Mayor Sam Jones’ top staffers are warning that slower revenue growth and obligations to pay industrial development subsidies signal that city spending could tighten in 2007-08.

· This year, city collections are about 2.6 percent ahead of budget. But sales taxes, the top revenue source, are running 5.8 percent or $3.2 million below projections. City business license revenue is more than making up for lagging sales taxes at $3.2 million ahead of projections. Business owners pay license tax based on their revenue, and big revenues for local businesses last year meant big license tax collections this year. That raises the possibility that license collections, the city's second-largest source of revenue, will level off or decrease next year, just as sales taxes have done this year. Through the end of April, the city had spent or pledged $110.6 million from its general fund, almost $5 million below what it had budgeted to spend so far. City operations that are separate from the general fund also were further ahead financially than projected.

· The city has promised $2 million a year for five years to Northrop Grumman and EADS if they build a military tanker airplane assembly plant at Brookley Field.

· The city plans to sell bonds to pay for the $33.5 million it has promised to ThyssenKrupp AG. – PR 5/27/07

o Figures released by the city of Mobile show that increased sales taxes alone may not cover bond payments on the $33.5 million. Assuming an interest rate the same of 4.8 percent when the city borrowed money last year, it would cost $52.2 million to pay off $33.5 million in bond debt over 20 years. Repayments could cost more than $2.5 million a year.

o Mobile Mayor Sam Jones wrote to the City Council that the plant would create an additional $50.2 million in city sales tax revenue over 20 years, citing numbers from the Alabama Development Office, $2 million less than the cost of the debt.

o Originally, the state asked the city to chip in $10 million, and that was raised to $20 million weeks before the announcement. Connie Hudson said Gov. Bob Riley asked the city to increase its contribution from $20 million to $33.5 million at a meeting four days before the announcement.

· In 2006, a $650,000 mid-year increase for the Wave bus system was controversial. Jones is likely to ask the council to replace current manager First Transit with a new private management company, McDonald Transit.

· The City Council passed a $242 million budget for FY 2008

· Moody's recently increased the city's credit rating from A2 to A1, and Standard & Poor's increased its rating from A+ to A-. The ratings are for both the city's current $185 million debt and the $56 million bond issue the city plans to to finance its contribution to the ThyssenKrupp AG steel mill.

o Both agencies cited the city's growing reserve fund, which has about $18 million -- or about 10 percent of the city's annual budget -- in it. City Finance Director Barbara Malkove said the city wants to increase the reserve to have about 17 percent of the budget, or enough to run the government for two months if disaster strikes and revenue disappears.

· Source: Jeff Amy, PR 6/13/2007

Mobile Annexation

· Large-scale efforts to expand the city west of Cody Road have failed repeatedly over the last 20 years, including Jones' attempt in 2007 to have the Mobile Regional Airport brought into the city limits by state legislative action. The two Mobile County commissioners opposed Jones' effort.

· There were four separate elections on September 18 for annexation in an area roughly bounded by Zeigler Boulevard, Cody Road, Hitt Road and just west of Schillinger Road. – PR 8/9/07, 9/18/07

o Voters in Section “A”, Mobile Terrace and surrounding areas, voted "yes" to joining the city of Mobile by 29 votes, bringing in tax-rich commercial areas along Schillinger Road and Airport Boulevard. Areas B, C, and D voted no by a 9-to-1 margin.

o Opponents, organized as the Committee of Citizens Against Annexation, said they thought the overall margin ?61.7 percent of voters in the four areas combined voted against joining the city -- showed that people west of Cody Road reject city taxes and regulations.

o Since the area including Schillinger Road and Mobile Terrace votes 'yes,' the city would have the opportunity to annex the airport, because it would then touch the city limits. Jones said he anticipated that the airport authority would ask to be taken in. Because the authority owns all the land, no election would be needed.

o Annexation supporters formed the Mobile Area Citizens PAC. MACPAC Host Committee

o The city will use a law that offers at least five years without city property taxes to those who annex in, and would reduce business license taxes during that period.

o City sales tax will increase immediately from 7.5 to 9 percent. Based on 2006 numbers, the city projects that it would collect another $10.1 million in sales tax revenue from the area each year.

o Newly annexed property owners will begin paying, with no five-year delay, a school property tax that is assessed in Mobile and Prichard. Those taxes would add $80 to the bill of a house assessed at $100,000. Jones said the benefits of garbage collection, as well as every-other-week collection of curbside trash, would more than offset the additional cost of city property taxes when they kick in.

o Voters in an area north of Airport, which included Mobile Terrace, rejected annexation by one vote in December 2002. Voters in an area south of Airport that straddled Grelot Road rejected annexation by 48 votes. Voters in various areas west of Cody Road had also rejected coming into the city in July 1992 and November 1993. A vote to incorporate a city of West Mobile in 2003 also failed.

o Mobile County Circuit Judge Rick Stout dismissed a lawsuit by the the Committee of Citizens Against Annexation over alleged voting irregularities and claims that the city’s annexation lines creating unincorporated islands were illegal. – PR 9/29/07,11/3/07

o Annexation Voting Map

o The Mobile City Council annexed the Mobile Regional Airport at the request of the Airport Authority. Because the authority owns the property, the City Council approved the request without an election or state legislation. The annexation became possible when section A voted to enter the city, making the city limits touch airport property. The authority had wanted to come into the city before and pushed unsuccessful state annexation legislation in 2007, even though it wouldn't have touched any other part of Mobile. Purchases made on airport property would be subject to 9 percent sales tax, instead of the current 7.5 percent. Tax rates on car rentals rose by 2.75 percent – PR 1/30/08

o The annexation would push the city's 3-mile police jurisdiction and 5-mile planning jurisdiction farther west. Mobile police would respond in all of Seven Hills, plus areas around Allentown Elementary School and areas along Novatan Road. Because those areas are in fire districts, protected from encroachment by state law, volunteer fire departments would keep answering calls there, instead of the city's Fire-Rescue Department. The planning jurisdiction would extend as far west as Newman Road and Airport Boulevard, as well as taking in a sliver of territory west of Big Creek Lake. At its westernmost extent, the planning jurisdiction would reach to within about five miles of the Mississippi state line.

Law Enforcement

· 2005 Alabama FBI Crime Statistics

· Mobile Police Department

· Mobile Police Jurisdiction

· 2006 Mobile County Sheriff’s Office Calls Hotspots

· Alabama Department of Public Safety Community Information Service (Sex Offender Search, Amber Alerts)

· The "City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press based on the FBI's crime statistics looked at 378 cities with at least 75,000 people based on per-capita crime rates: Birmingham was ranked the sixth most dangerous, Huntsville 76th, Tuscaloosa 85th, Montgomery 112th and Mobile 139th. – PR 11/19/07

· Violent crime increased slightly in Mobile the first half of 2007 from 581 to 585. Homicides went from 15 to 20, rapes rose 26 to 40, and robberies 337 to 344. But aggravated assaults dropped from 203 to 181. Mobile police officials said the city recorded 40 homicides for all of 2007. Other crime statistics for the whole year are not yet available, but officials said figures through November suggest Mobile ended the year with 5.6 percent more violent crimes than the previous year. – PR 1/8/08

	2004 Total	Per 100,000 People	National per 100,000 People
Overall Mobile Crime Index	15514	6210	4627
Mobile Violent Crimes	1165	466	554.4
Mobile Murders	35	14	7
Mobile Rapes	74	29	34
Mobile Robberies	597	239	195
Mobile Aggravated Assaults	459	183	340
Mobile Property Crimes	14349	5744	4073
Mobile Burglaries	3832	1534	814
Mobile Larceny/Thefts	9396	3761	2734
Mobile Motor Vehicle Thefts	1121	449	526

· Mobile Fire and Rescue Department

o After Mobile became a US city in 1819, volunteer fire companies were formed. Creole Steam Fire Company No. 1 is believed to be the first Volunteer Fire Company followed closely by Neptune Engine Fire Company No. 2.

o In 1888, a paid Fire Department was organized as a regular branch of the City. The City purchased the engine equipment of Phoenix No. 6 Volunteer Company for $3,000.00. Creole No. 1 was willing to continue service as part of the Professional Fire Department

o Mobile has had 2 major conflagrations in its history, 1839 (destroying 11 city blocks) and 1919 (destroying 10 city blocks)

Mobile Housing Board

· Mobile Housing Board Website

· Incorporated in 1937, the Mobile Housing Board (MHB) has a five member governing Board of Commissioners who are appointed to five year terms by the Mayor.

· The majority of funding for the MHB is provided by the federal government though the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

· Through the traditional Public Housing and Section 8 Housing Programs they provide housing or housing assistance to over 7,000 families.

· Renovations include a HOPE VI grant to establish an assisted living facility at our Central Plaza Towers Development.

· The Mobile Housing Board works in collaboration with the City of Mobile to administer the Community Development Block Grant program.

Transportation

· Wave Transit System

o Wave Transit System Map

o Wave Transit System Video

· Baylinc is a cross-bay bus service Mondays through Fridays that includes several stops along the Eastern Shore, then two stops each morning and afternoon at Mobile's Bienville Square..

Education

· Public schools in Mobile are operated by the Mobile County Public School System.

· The Mobile County Public School System -- which has housed its central offices in Barton Academy since the 1970s -- moved out of the facility and into the former QMS campus off Schillinger Road in northwest Mobile.

· “Good Schools Can Happen,” Parade Magazine, 8/27/06: In 2001, Alabama’s largest school district was so troubled that it was scheduled to be taken over by the state. Voters hadn’t approved new funding for the district in 41 years. Business leaders joined civic leaders to push for a new property tax to fund the schools: 10,000 people turned out to rally before the vote. The tax passed. One initiative by the Chamber of Commerce created an apprentice program that brought students into local hospitals and clinics to learn about health care. As a result, in the last two years, 7% more students have pursued studies or careers in that field. In addition, businesses have sent employees into the school system to help develop lesson plans. Across Mobile, test scores are up and college scholarships are at a record $54 million.

· Saraland voted in 2006 to break off from the Mobile County Public School System, the first city in the system to ever do so.

· The number of Mobile County public schools not meeting state standards rose from 12 to 21 in 2007, with most of those schools missing the mark due to students being absent from class or dropping out. The total number of Mobile County schools that must offer transfers dropped from 21 to eight this year.

· The three high schools that did not meet standards had graduation rates as follows: B.C. Rain off Dauphin Island Parkway, 77 percent; Vigor in Prichard, 73 percent; and Williamson, near Mobile's Maysville community, 72 percent.

· Mae Eanes Middle School<