LETTER OF SUPPORT TO MOBILE Gina Gregory, City Council President Fred Richardson, City Council VP Levon Manzie, District 2 Joel Daves, District 5 John Williams, District 7 CJ Small, District 3 Bess Rich, District 6 Mobile City Council I felt compelled to contact each of you as individuals and as a distinguished group of hard working public officials to let you know that the city council meeting this past Tuesday (to discuss and pass our cities 2014-15 budget) was truly the most profoundly selfless and mature city council meeting that our city has experienced since our 1985 new government was founded. Coming together (6-1) on this hard 2014-15 year budget and going beyond to resolve our revenue issues for three years to strengthen in fact (and not in hope and words) our services and infrastructure investment potential is a first class job. The leadership that each of you displayed individually with your sincere reasoning and emotions expressing your desires of wanting to “do the right thing” and your doing so in a straight forward and non-partisan way was felt and appreciated by those who watched. The city council “business” meeting rose to the level of governance that we so desperately need, far surpassing the deadlocked stridently partisan do nothing political type of process in Washington that if we let it get rooted locally will destroy our city as surely as it is destroying our country. Our nation’s only hope is to “do it right” on our home front, one city at a time. We need an informed, committed and united Mayor and Council (and community) to accomplish this competitive feat. 1. Gina Gregory – Reggie Copeland I am sure is very proud of your performance as council president managing this important 2014-15 complex budget process and vote. You were exceptional, selfless and non- partisan in your actions. I walked away from watching the meeting on TV with a feeling of hope for our cities competitive and brighter future with the strong leadership and tough decisions the city council made for our city and citizens. Job well done! If for political reasons this much needed 1 cents tax that is already voted into the budget for the years 2015-2018 is reversed and an alternative tax base is not put in place for those 3 years then our city will fall into a non-competitive abyss with a $32M annual cut in city operations and services budgets and capability. Infrastructure investment will not exist. We all know that is “not the right thing to do”. The cities sales tax revenues have been decreased significantly due to the impacts of a major recession (resulting in significantly less sales and sales tax base) and have decreased even more significantly due to the even larger loss of city sales tax revenue derived from our ever expanding free taxed internet sales growth. This shrunken sales tax revenue base is too small to keep up with public demands and real needs for inflation and the increasing cost of services and infrastructure. We do not need to shoot ourselves in the foot (or higher) by cutting our already low sales tax derived revenues without an alternative immediately. Give us a 1 cents tax or give us tax reform now and not later. Tax Reform? Here is a test of Alabama “Tax Reform”. Ask those who have a high intolerance for the sales tax if they have any tolerance for an optional equal city revenue based by raising our ad valorem or “property tax”. Our state legislature controls and unfortunately limits this source of stable revenue with a powerful lobby. They control most other of our significant tax reform initiative options for Alabama cities. This 1 cents sales tax not being passed and no tax reform equals taking Mobile back 30 years. Best to put the 1 cents sales tax on now as the city council has already done so. We all know we need it for capital and operations now and later. At the same time this 1 cents tax is passed for the next three years (passing it now) let’s place a strong city council driven tax reform committee and agenda in place. Bess has earned the right to be that Chairperson. Let those who do not want the sales tax join in the serious fight for an effective tax reform. Then we take the sales tax off and substitute reform (perhaps with a referendum to make all happy with the process). That type of progressive leadership again is called governance. Remember those who say Mobile has the highest taxes of any city in the nation are either uninformed or untruthful. All cities around us have the same 10 cents sales tax base. They all also, like Mobile, have little to no ad valorem ( property tax) or modern services fees like storm drainage, garbage, police and fire, public works like modern run cities that we need to compete with. Incidentally, it took Saraland 20 minutes in a council session to put their extra penny sales tax in place. No one complains to their leaders, then or now. The leaders stuck together. Their city seems to continue on an upward trend. Always remember (tell your voters so they can be well informed) that Alabama is the lowest taxed state in the nation and according to the 2012 published “Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama” (PARCA) Mobile is number 16 lowest of the top 20 largest cities in the state in per capita income (per capita city taxes). Here is good one for those who like to blame our situation on our cities high city debt. PARCA says our debt service per capita is lower than Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery. Think about it, if we are going to build and finance a new library system, jail, landfill or art museum etc. we need to finance the cost long term just like a family does their house and car. Sometimes a good dose of facts can help cure the situation and/or lead us to the real problems. John Williams – Wow! You publically supported and voted for three more years of the infamous 1 cents sales tax for all of the right reasons. I am truly proud of you. That will prove to be a move supported by you that will take Mobile to a higher more competitive performance on all levels if the vote holds and if “followed up by the city council as Gina directed “ it will hopefully lead to true tax reform. Job well done! Tax reform is a strategic and competitive issue for our next level of growth and prosperity as a city. Perhaps you can join Bess in that critical endeavor. I have studied tax reform nationwide in great detail and would like to share some ideas with you guy’s. Upon my election in 1989 I tried to place dedicated service fees (tax reform 101) on our two biggest unfunded services issues at the time, garbage and storm water drainage (which is what the modern business run cities were moving toward at the time) and the city council one hour before the council vote batted me down and placed a 1 cents sales tax on the city instead. Perhaps the mayor and council can align today for true tax reform. Looks hopeful to me. Cities all across America have done some excellent and serious work on tax reform. It has always amused me that the people who yell the most about our high sales tax tolerance seem to themselves accept and tolerate our almost non-existent city property tax and the lack of smart and progressive dedicated city service fees. Do you think the public would vote down a public safety fee for more officers, new cars and upgraded technology? How about bike, walking, running trails, sidewalks and parks fee? Taking away the 1 cents sales tax is not going to fix the city revenue/budget situation and will tank our competitive efforts which are already weak with the 1 cents revenue in place. Remember Alabama is the lowest taxed state in the nation and Mobile in the last 2012 dated Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) report was number 16 lowest per capita taxed city of the 20 largest cities in the state. It is far past the time to have tax reform and create a stable and nationally competitive city tax base. 2. The Joel Daves and Levon Manzie Team- A true powerhouse (both of you first termers on the city council) arose for doing the right things with this budget. The hard and effective work and results that you two gentlemen (2X I call you) provided on the budget compromise (for the restoration) of a modest funding for our much needed private “services agencies” of mental health, spousal and child abuse, kids at risk, civic and community services, quality of life and livability initiatives to include supporting our tourism industry, downtown redevelopment and economic development at large) has created a serious public discussion and awareness. These critical services agencies serve our families, our neighbors and our city at large by providing critical and much needed community services that our governments (national, state and local) have blindly and recklessly chosen not to provide or see and demand that they are provided. Public/private partnerships are more than just words. They are heartfelt commitments and funded actions. Great Job 2X! 3. CJ Small – Your passion exhibited during the council meeting about city investment in infrastructure going forward is dear to my heart. It will take the 1 cents tax to be able to do “going forward” to provide even a fraction of what infrastructure investment we did in the past two decades. Mayor Arthur Outlaw and I both prioritized infrastructure to the best of our tax base capabilities. The recession caught Mayor Jones but he was a huge infrastructure player as County Commissioner prior to the recession. We did so much of the bigger stuff over the past two decades that hopefully now sidewalks and parks can be prioritized. I am proud of you guys for voting the tax stay in place for three more years. In fact previous Mayors and Councils over this past several decades rebuild all of the infrastructure of our city from government facilities, to tourism related structures, $200M in storm drainage—a great job done here as we do not flood as severely as we did in the 1980’s and prior. The city took our police officers from 350 to 600 strong, build three new fire stations. My council and I gave a 15% raise to police and fire in first year of my mayorship. I also began the process of the city putting in $4M a year (annual loss at that time) to stop the annual bleeding and save the police and fire pension fund and I authorized and lobbied the state legislation to make that annual funding maintenance a law where our city would not have a broke pension fund and become a Prichard situation. We upgraded our police, fire and public works equipment and technology twice over the past two decades which unfortunately today needs that same level of reinvestment all over again. Sam Jones (County Commissioner’s) and I (my City Council’s) shared the cost to build a new expanded modern Jail (shut down city libelous jail), funded a new modern Reg. D 100 year life landfill (shut down county libelous landfill), funded and jointly built a new government plaza (the leaky roof was free) and we funded the Chamber 50/50 to go after investment in foreign industry as well 50/50 for our Juvenile Center and various new courts. The City and County were great partners in infrastructure during this progressive era. Additional City investments in infrastructure were made in building a new waterfront convention center, a new waterfront park (purchased land from Bender Shipyard), built a renovated and new modern Library system with new west and north Mobile facilities. The City in my administration built new Art, History and Omnimax Science Museums. Love it or not we had 16 projects called the “String of Pearls” that came from a community wide envision “strategic plan” process. I and my city councils administered that plan for 16 years. We build Bay Bears stadium (Mobile was excited to have it) and I am heartsick about the lack of attendance today. We built the cruise terminal which by the way was initially owned and financed by the RSA and not the city of Mobile. The city later (after I left office) felt it could save on a re-financed tax free interest rate and bought the cruise terminal back from the RSA. Again, the city did not finance and own the cruise terminal during my mayorship. I might add here that the city financing and buying it back from the RSA was the fair and right thing to do. Dr. Bronner should not have got stuck helping us. We owe him too much. If anyone cares I have an excellent reuse for the terminal that will help Mobile and Baldwin create a nationally competitive destination tourism industry. I hope to input this into our upcoming regional strategic plan for Mobile and Baldwin County administered by the Coastal Alabama Partnership (CAP). As to infrastructure, Sam Jones and I co-chaired four votes over a decade to finally win an infrastructure financing referendum to raise ad valorem taxes to build over $700M in new public schools all over this county. I was blessed to have progressive city councils and a strong downtown redevelopment team to rebuild downtown Mobile to the point it is today (a lot left to do). My friend Dr. Bronner responded to my request of the RSA to build a new “states tallest—now lit up at night” office tower wrapped around a renovated Battle House Hotel and to go down the street to renovate the then run down Riverview. Later as he and I were sitting one night on the top of the Battle House terrace outside of the master suite he informed me he was going to buy the old First national bank building and renovate it. He is now doing the Van Antwerp building. I spoke to him recently about another idea I had (I thought he was going to pass out). We owe it to Dr. Bronner to get busy with our Coastal Alabama Strategic regional plan process and take our destination tourism “industry” to the same competitive level that we took recruitment of foreign manufacturing “industry” investment and jobs this past decade. While we are at it lets fund our convention and visitors bureau competitively behind that plan. In Arthur Outlaws 4 years as Mayor and my 16 years we funded over $200M in drainage ditches (that is where our sidewalk monies went). Mobile unlike other cities we compare to has a unique low lying delta and a unique flood issue we had to spend hundreds of millions over the years to address. Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery do not have that challenge and expense. Mobile has also this past two decades matched funding to build 4 lane roads for Grelot, Hillcrest, Cottage hill. Sam Jones and I successfully lobbied State Hwy 158 as a 4 lane connector road from Saraland to the Airport. Now here again is the caveat related to the rate of our city taxes. Alabama is the lowest taxed state in the nation and the 2012 Parka Report states that Mobile per capita tax base is the number 16 lowest taxed of the top 20 cities in the state. It also says (and this is not well known) that per capita debt service for Mobile is $137 per capita while Huntsville is $787, Birmingham is $219 and Montgomery is $147 per capita. It looks like we are competitive at this point in time as one of the lowest taxed cities in the nation. Mobile needs a “raise”. We deserve it. It would be great to break out of the Alabama pack and be nationally competitive. That is our opportunity and challenge. Let’s get to a serious tax reform and the creation of an informed and supportive public related to competitive revenues to grow our city and our prosperity. We need to cut the inaccurate rhetoric and put a vision and action plan together for a brighter future. Sorry CJ for this lengthy dialogue. You mentioned infrastructure so eloquently and infrastructure is and has been a high priority for me for three decades. I appreciate your careful thoughtful and insightful work on the council. Great Job! Fred Richardson What can I say about a man from Nymph, Alabama. It was great working for you Fred and your district 1 citizens all of those years I served the city. Your kind and gentle spirit inspired me. Most of what you gave the city at large to my thinking was a model of 100% dedication to public service (kind of like Bess Rich does except you vote for the mayors budgets). Your priorities were always police and fire services, covering open ditches, building parks and recreation centers, cleaning up your neighborhoods, answering your phone. If the conversation ever turned political leaning to partisan someone else drove you there. You always stayed focused on doing the right things. If we are not going to leave that 1 cents tax in place then we are going have to do the right thing and have a serious and competitive tax reform! You get it! Great job! Bess Rich What can I say Bess. We believe in the same things but have always had a different perspective, language, style and execution “philosophy”. Sincerely, if I were Mayor today you and I would see more eye to eye. I am truly excited about your chairmanship of tax reform. Nothing can help our current Mayor and this city more than a stable and competitive tax base. With a stable and adequate tax base we can fund, as we must, as our competitive peer cities do, a nationally competitive arts & culture, sports & recreation, nationally branded infrastructure for major family vacation entertainment & events and create the branding for a healthy outdoors regional lifestyle with our assets of Delta’s, River’s, Bay and Beaches. All of which if our Mobile Convention and Visitors Bureau is funded competitively (which it is currently not) will give us a thriving destination tourism market to draw 3-5 new out of state visitors and create as a result a $30-50M new city and county tax base. Then (with 3-5M new out of state visitors) our reasonably high city sales tax would be invaluable. Bess thank you for your many years of dedicated service. Our city and our region is on the cusp of becoming nationally competitive (if we stay progressive and focused). I think the Coastal Alabama Partnership (CAP) regional planning process once funded and executed and added to your (Chairmanship) initiative of true tax reform are a critical path for our city. I do have one suggestion. Consider voting yes for the Mayor’s annual budget once the council has gained a 6-1 consensus from a hard due diligence and debate. It really does not hurt and it might prove to be fun and therapeutic to be on a 7-0 team. Like Joel said, he did not agree with all that was included in this 2014-15 budget (to include your adding last minute a $1.5M line item for a soccer complex) but he was willing to compromise for the greater good. If we are so rigid as to not understand and respect each other’s differences and diverse needs and if we do not work as a team we will not meet our bigger goals. No one will ever vote yes for everything that is in the city’s budget. Thanks again for your service. You are a great district representative. Smile once in a while. Mike Dow, a recovering Mayor. 251-604-4747 cell
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 00:46:51 +0000
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