Citizens board approved by city council

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The penny sales tax issue has been talked about for weeks with the Mobile City Council and Mayor Sam Jones. Now, others are being brought into the conversation - a board made up of citizens.

"They will help the council wade through all of this info to help us make decisions," said council member Gina Gregory.

Gregory said each council member will nominate one person to the citizens board, and they all have to know about one thing: money.  

"Budgeting is difficult. The board will be made up of people with financial backgrounds, auditing, and they will take the info and advise us of trends and problems," said Gregory.

There was some opposition to forming the citizen's board, especially by council member Jermaine Burrell who said the seven council members can't make a decision much less adding more people to the equation.

Gregory, however, disagrees.

"We all talk about transparency, accountability. There is nothing wrong with citizen involvement. We encourage it," Gregory said.

Now that it has been approved, the next step will be for the council members to appoint the board.

Mayor Jones said the City of Mobile is facing a multi-million dollar deficit if the penny sales tax is not renewed.

Some council members have said they would vote for it, while a few others want to look at other options