Spanish Fort Council Revisited Sales Tax Exemption for Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project
Resolution No. 1596-2026 was on the Spanish Fort City Council's May 18 agenda as old business and would authorize a municipal sales and use tax exemption for materials used in construction of the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project. The item was first presented at the May 4 meeting and carried to Monday.
The Spanish Fort City Council returned to Resolution No. 1596-2026 at its May 18 meeting, listed as agenda item IX under old business. The resolution would authorize the Alabama Department of Revenue to issue a municipal sales and use tax exemption certificate for the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project — the long-planned replacement of the aging Interstate 10 crossing over Mobile Bay.
The resolution text in the meeting packet describes the project as one being designed, constructed, and maintained by the Alabama Department of Transportation and qualifies it as a toll project eligible for local tax exemptions under Alabama Code § 23-2-153(i). The exemption, if granted, would apply only to Spanish Fort's share of sales and use taxes on tangible personal property that permanently becomes part of the project structure.
Agenda excerpt, May 18, 2026 Spanish Fort City Council meeting, page 1.
The resolution sets two key parameters: an effective date of Sept. 1, 2026, and a ten-year duration. The packet further states that the city must notify the Alabama Department of Revenue of the exemption no later than July 1, 2026, under state law. The certificate would be limited to purchases by the project's design-builder or subcontractors as designated by the city clerk, according to the resolution.
The item was first presented to the council at the May 4 regular meeting, where City Attorney David Conner explained it and discussion followed, according to the minutes included in the packet. No vote was recorded that night.
Resolution No. 1596-2026 as included in the May 18, 2026 meeting packet, packet page 8.