Stimpson says the money would come from federal relief for COVID-19. The Mobile city council could vote on the plan sometime after June 29. Birmingham city leaders have already endorsed their plan, and the bonus checks are expected to go out to 3,500 full-time employees this month.
Mobile and Birmingham are among the first two cities in Alabama to pitch $5,000 bonuses to employees who worked through the coronavirus pandemic last year. They are also the only two Alabama cities with city elections scheduled for August 24.
Officials in both cities say that bonuses are acceptable uses for the federal money approved in March through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. And officials say they should not be viewed as a one-time effort to bolster political points ahead of crucial elections.
“Those kind of questions come, but this had to with the opportunity … in funding from the federal government,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said Tuesday after his administration rolled out a proposal for $58.2 million the city is getting in the next two years from the federal relief plan. “If you look at how the (federal) act came out and how the money should be mandated (for use), there is a huge focus on employees. It was pretty easy to say, ‘Hey, let’s give the employees a bonus.”
‘Premium Pay’
The bonuses are part of one of the uses the rescue act allows in the form of “premium pay for essential workers.” In Mobile, $5,000 will be provided to 2,000 employees, costing $10 million total. An additional $2,500 will be doled out 200 part-time employees, costing an additional $500,000.
Birmingham’s $16.8 million plan, endorsed by its city council earlier this month, provided $5,000 bonuses to 3,500 employees, with about 1,100 of them in the Birmingham Police Department. An additional $2,500 went to part-time workers. The money is coming from $148.8 million the city is receiving from the rescue act, representing the highest allotment to a city in Alabama.
Mobile’s allocation is the second most, followed by Montgomery at $41.6 million and Huntsville at $34.4 million.
The U.S. Treasury Department determined the allocations to each city based on the typical formula to fund the annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. A city’s population size, housing stock age and poverty rates all play in determining how much in CDBG money a city gets each year.
Stimpson said the city looked at what Birmingham was doing, and “realized that maybe that was the threshold” regarding the bonuses. Few other Alabama cities have utilized the money for bonuses, though Prattville’s council recently dedicated $1.37 million to provide a $4,000 one-time bonus to 340 full-time employees, and $2,000 to five part-time workers, according to The Montgomery Advertiser.
Mobile, unlike some other cities in Alabama, did not authorize hazard pay or any other special compensation programs last year as the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height. Montgomery city and county officials, for instance, utilized a portion of their Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act money to give an extra $2.50 per hour for qualifying workers via hazard pay. The extra compensation went to first responders and other emergency workers during the last half of the year.
“Many other cities have given some type of employee incentive or bonus over the COVID period of time,” Stimpson said. “We felt it was the best opportunity we had to use federal funds in order to do something for (the employees).”
He added, “You know they worked diligently. Many did not take a day off work during that period of time. It’s a great use of the money.”
Affordable Housing
Aside from the bonuses, Mobile’s plan for utilizing its federal allocation places a heavy emphasis on providing affordable housing. The highlight of that plan includes $8 million for the rehabilitation of the former Gayfers department store in downtown Mobile into a 94-unit affordable housing complex. The building, which was first constructed in 1905, last operated as a department store in 1985. It has largely sat unused ever since.
“One of the things we’ve known for several years is affordable housing is the biggest challenge that we’ve had,” said Stimpson. “So much of it is encumbered by red tape through (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Department) and the ( Mobile) Housing Authority. It’s a huge challenge.”
He added, “The Gayfers project specifically is something we talked about with a private developer for the past three to four years. What we have here is a huge building that has been vacant for almost 40 years that I almost impossible to renovate economically … there has to be an incentive to do that.”
Stimpson said he envisions commercial businesses on the building’s bottom floor that faces historic Bienville Square. The city, last fall, compared the renovation of the building to the Pizitz building in downtown Birmingham, which was renovated into a 143-apartment unit atop a bustling food halls.
“The project has the potential to not only increase housing options in downtown Mobile, but also give life to a prominent historic building,” said Stephen McNair of McNair Historic Preservation in Mobile. “The exterior will be preserved in accordance with the historic standards and the interior will be designed to reconfigure the Gayfers layout into residential units.”
The city’s other plans for the money include:
-The development of 20 owner-occupied homes in midtown Mobile near Memorial Park on Houston Street. The two-year project will include the acquisition and demolition of existing properties to make room for the new development.
-An additional $16 million for affordable rental housing in the Maysville community. According to Jamey Roberts, the city’s senior director of neighborhood development, the project will involve a newly constructed apartment complex near RV Taylor Plaza is located that consists of 40 to 50 units. The city is currently looking for the right location for the project.
-A $1 million additional to assist low-to-moderate income homeowners with replacing damaged roofs from recent hurricanes.
-The city plans to spend $13.8 million in the next two years on addressing “negative economic impacts” from the pandemic. The money will go toward bolstering Mobile’s rental and small business assistance programs. Also, the city will utilize $4 million to assist homeowners with down payment assistance. Another $1.4 million will be utilized on marketing efforts to bolster tourism, which was a hard-hit sector during the pandemic.
-Another $3 million will be spent to boost the city’s broadband network to connect underserved areas of the city. Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson said he would like to see community centers and public parks connected, while Stimpson said the administration will consider other areas of the city as well.
©2021 Advance Local Media LLC. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
