MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — It is now a mere shell of its former self.
The Mobile Civic Center is being cleared to make way for a new estimated 300-million dollar replacement.
And Tuesday, Mobile city council members who make up the city’s finance committee had plenty of questions for Mayor Stimpson’s staff about how much the final price could be, when the city will find out the cost of financing the project, and if it will intrude upon other city projects already in the works.
“I’m very satisfied with the way things are going. I was skeptical for along time about whether we were gonna be able to do this financially. And I believe the plan the administration has come up with is very doable… very achievable.”
Council member and finance committee chairman Joel Daves, who admits he hasn’t always been the biggest fan of the project, is now convinced the city’s financial health makes this the right time to make the move.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be in a better position to do it,” he says. “The only way we could be in a better position is to have everything paid off, be debt free and then do it.”
Daves says the city is currently spending about 32 million dollars a year paying off old debt and shoring up the police and fire pension. That debt should paid off in less than 10 years, allowing that money then to be applied toward paying off the bonds of the civic center.
About those bonds… the city’s bond rating by Standard and Poor should be set by late January, giving the city an idea of how much it will cost to borrow the money.
But… how much money will they need to borrow?
That depends upon the bids by companies competing for the project.
Those bids are to be submitted in January, opened in early February.
The city has been working with a 300 thousand dollar estimated price tag.
The amount the city borrows could be reduced or affected by the winning bid, contributions from the county, and sponsorships by private companies.
What about other city projects… like capital improvements such as road, sidewalks, parks and drainage?
“There’s plenty of money for that,” says Daves. “That money is set aside. The question is some of these larger items like Brookley By the Bay..”
Or the proposed new animal shelter?
“The animal shelter. Yeah, I think we just have to wait and see. I don’t think you can say, yes, it’s not going to go forward or no, it’s not going forward. I think we have to wait and see. I think as far as large projects go, right now the civic center is the most important large projects we have in front of us.”
As for those other city projects, and the possibility that funding the civic center could affect them?
NBC 15 News learned in the meeting that the city is assessing more than 400 other projects to see where they are right now and how much they cost.
Many may already be in the budget, and it’s possible that when the city pays off that old debt mentioned earlier, they could start using that cash for those projects instead of applying it to the civic center debt.
There are all kind of options in play, some that may land in the lap of a new post-Stimpson administration.
