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Council asks staff for permit counts, delays $20 trade-academy fee vote
Summary
A proposed $20 per-residential-permit fee to fund an Alabama Construction Trade Academy was introduced but held one week as council requested permit-count data and an executed memorandum of understanding with the Alabama Home Builders Foundation.
The Mobile City Council laid over consideration of a proposed amendment to Chapter 11 that would add a subsection to create an "Alabama Construction Trade Academy" fund supported by a $20 fee on residential permits.
Mister Ronald said the city was still "waiting on a memorandum of understanding to be executed between the city of Mobile and the Alabama Home Builders Foundation" and recommended holding the item a week. Council members questioned the revenue potential: one speaker said the city issued "not even 300 permits" last year for qualifying permits and calculated the proposal would generate only a few thousand dollars.
Councilman Small asked staff to provide exact permit counts, including single-family, duplex/triplex units and mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits. A staff member said those figures were "fairly easy" to pull and that the ordinance reads to include units under four; staff committed to return with numbers next week.
Several council members said they would support the concept but wanted clarity on revenue and how the academy would duplicate or overlap existing builder training. The council did not adopt the fee and agreed to revisit it when a memorandum of understanding is executed and staff provides permit-count data.
