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Resident urges council to send Delaney Property Group tax-incentive request to finance committee
Summary
Susie Smith asked the council to require Delaney Property Group to present its revised request for tax incentives to the finance committee before council consideration, citing prior changes to the proposal and calling for more transparency and the legal notice required under Alabama law.
During the citizens' comment period on June 2, resident Susie Smith urged the Tuscaloosa City Council to send a revised tax-incentive request from Delaney Property Group to the finance committee for committee review before council action.
Smith recounted that Delaney first requested $6 million in tax incentives in December 2025 and that a subsequent finance-committee presentation reduced the ask to $5.75 million in January. She said the company later presented a different package to the public projects committee on March 24, 2026 and that staff told the company the submission "was different from what the council approved in the 772 phase." Smith said the March presentation included changes — notably a reduction in the number of operational businesses that would trigger sales-tax rebates from six to three — and that the public’s only opportunity to review the newest proposal would be after it appeared as a council resolution in the newspaper.
"When Mr. Delaney submits his third proposal for taxpayer funds ... please follow the same procedure you did with his first proposal and include a presentation for Mr. Delaney on the finance committee agenda prior to the legal notice appearing in the newspaper," she said. Smith also cited the council's earlier statements that the city would comply with Alabama law requiring legal notice to appear in the Tuscaloosa News at least seven days before a council hearing on an economic-development assistance resolution.
Council responses were procedural and limited: one council member said Mr. Richard Henry had not discussed the project with him, and another placed on the record that Mr. Henry had not been involved in prior conversations. The council did not take formal action on Smith's request during the meeting.
Why it matters: Smith's request concerns transparency and committee review for a proposal that would use taxpayer-funded incentives. Council members and staff will determine whether the finance committee will rehear or review any forthcoming Delaney proposal before it returns to council for a vote.
