Council amends Mobile–County arena agreement to specify $7.5 million over 10 years

The Mobile City Council on April 1 approved a substitution to an intergovernmental agreement with Mobile County that specifies a $7,500,000 county contribution to the proposed Mobile Arena, to be paid over 10 years with the first two years each at $500,000.

The substitution was offered by Councilman Reynolds and adopted by the council. City staff described the item as “an agreement between the city and the county as far as funding,” and said negotiations about the county’s final contribution amount had been ongoing prior to the council action.

The clarification came after a member of the public, Sabrina Mass, asked whether the arena had already been included in the Civic Center budget and whether the county was being asked to match a newly proposed amount. “Was this arena not, a part of what's already, been passed on the agenda for the Civic Center?” Mass asked during the public comment period.

Councilman Reynolds offered the substitution to reflect the $7,500,000 allocation from the county, to be paid over 10 years with the first two years at $500,000 each; members voted to adopt the substitution. The resolution as amended was taken up by the council and approved for consideration. Vote tallies by member were not specified on the record.

The council clerk’s office has the most recent agreement on file; staff told the council the substitution mirrors the agreement now on file with the clerk’s office and represents the county allocation being memorialized in the intergovernmental document.

No definitive schedule of county payments beyond the first two years was presented at the meeting, and council members indicated the item reflected the most recent terms available to the clerk’s office.