Alabama business roundup: Headlines from across state – 6/16/16 edition
Which mega-retailer now allows Alabama shoppers to pay with their smartphones? Are you familiar with the new Alabama tax laws that could affect your company? Answers to all of these questions and more in today’s business roundup: Birmingham Business Journal: North Alabama megasite primed for development A 1,252-acre site off Powell Road in Limestone County was certified as a Tennessee Valley Authority megasite, rendering the site more competitive when it comes to large-scale development. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County said the site – which sits in the same area as other recent large scale manufacturing projects like Polaris Industries and GE Aviation- can now compete globally to land a major manufacturer. It’s the first TVA certification of its kind in Alabama. “The certification is our international calling card telling global manufacturers we are open for business and a prime place for industry and jobs,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said. “This site should attract a high-tech, high-end company for worldwide customers.” The TVA has seen its certified mega sites go on to land major projects, as five of the seven certified locations have brought a collective capital investment total of more than $5 billion. AL.com: Alabama Walmart customers can now pay with their smartphones Starting today, customers at the more than 120 Walmart locations across Alabama can check out using their smartphones. Walmart Pay was already available in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas and today rolled out in four Southern states, including Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, according to company spokeswoman Molly Blakeman. The service will soon be available nationwide. Here’s how it works: Open: Visit any register, open the Walmart app and choose Walmart Pay. Activate the camera. Scan: At any time during checkout, simply scan the code displayed at the register. Walmart Pay is now connected. Done: Associate scans and bags the items and it’s done. An eReceipt will be sent to the app and can be viewed at any time. The service, first announced in December, makes Walmart “the only retailer to offer its own payment solution that works with any iOS or Android device (that can download the Walmart app), at any checkout lane, and with any major credit, debit, pre-paid or Walmart gift card – all through the Walmart mobile app,” according to a press release. “We can’t wait to hear what our customers and associates in Alabama think of Walmart Pay. The service was built to make shopping easier and faster, something we know our customers want,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president, Services, Walmart U.S. “Walmart Pay is a powerful addition to our app, a tool that we’re using to transform the shopping experience by seamlessly connecting our online assets and our stores for customers. The service opens the door to new and better ways we can serve the 140 million customers who shop our stores each week.” Alabama NewsCenter: Gulf Coast facility helps keep saltwater fishing afloat in Alabama Marie Head works long hours monitoring conditions and tending to the fish at the Claude Peteet Mariculture Center in Gulf Shores. She shares on-call duties on weekends and holidays for a facility that requires constant attention. Being a biologist’s aide isn’t a high-paying job, either. And there’s nowhere else she’d rather be than the hatchery that grows saltwater fish for research and stock enhancement. “I love it,” Head said with a smile. “We watch them hatch out under a microscope. We feed them and grow them so that they can be released and fishermen can fish. You get to see life right here in this building.” Despite Alabama’s small coastline, recreational saltwater fishing is a $900-million-plus business for the state. The Alabama Department of Conservation Division of Marine Resources oversees both recreation and commercial fishing in saltwater. Its hatchery spearheads efforts to make sure anglers have plenty of fish to pursue down at the Gulf. “We’re two-fold,” said Josh Neese, hatchery manager. “We do research and raise fish in mass numbers to release at one inch long.” Completed in January 2015, the hatchery, tucked away behind the Gulf Shores Airport, includes a brood stock room, a fry room, grow-out tanks, an algae room where food for the larval and fish fry is grown, a pond production area and 35 one-fifth-acre ponds, said Chris Blankenship, director of Marine Resources. Raw water lines connect the facility to the Intracoastal Waterway Canal, where it draws its brackish water, and the Gulf of Mexico at Gulf State Park Pier, where it gets its pure salt water. Read the rest of the article here. Birmingham Business Journal: Alabama tax law changes your company needs to know The Alabama Legislature concluded a relatively productive 2016 regular session on May 4. The 2017 Regular Session will begin next February, although there is a good possibility of the governor calling a special session this fall to address his prison plan, increased Medicaid funding, how to spend the BP settlement funds awarded to the state and perhaps another vote on the popular historic renovation tax credit legislation. Here is a look at the some noteworthy state tax bills that were signed into law: Act #2016-412 – Federal/State Filing Date Conformity Bill: Conforms the state income tax return filing dates for corporations and pass-through entities to the inverted filing dates established by Congress last year. CPAs across the state breathed a sigh of relief. Act #2016-345 – HSA Conformity Bill finally passes: Generally conforms the state income tax rules for creating a health savings account to the federal tax rules, but not until 2018. Beginning that year, taxpayers can claim a state income tax deduction for contributions to HSAs, limited to the annual cap imposed by federal tax law (currently $3,350 for individuals and $6,750 for families). Alabama was one of only three states with an income tax that didn’t conform to the federal rules. Many Alabama employers offer this useful option to their employees. Act #2016-406 – Additional restrictions on private auditing firms: Clarifies that the statutory ban on contingent fee audits includes unwritten agreements between counties or
Jim Zeigler: Robert Bentley must move newly-built wall at Gulf Coast Governor’s Mansion
Gov. Robert Bentley rarely gets a break from the near-constant thorn in his side that is State Auditor Jim Zeigler. Yesterday wasn’t his day, and today doesn’t look good either. On Tuesday, Zeigler announced he has found the recent expansion to the governor’s official residence in Gulf Shores, dubbed the “Governor’s Mansion at the Beach,” has been built incorrectly. According to Zeigler, the Baldwin County Commission told Bentley he needs to move the wall at the long-neglected mansion. County officials said the wall blocks public access to the beach and intrudes on a county right of way. Zeigler called the improper wall “just an example of the mistakes that happen when the Bentley administration is not accountable to anyone.” “The governor rammed this project through with no notice to the public. It was a done deal before the public, or the Baldwin County officials knew anything about it,” said Zeigler. Zeigler repeated comments he had made before to the effect Bentley diverted $1.8 million in funds from the BP oil spill settlement for renovating the gubernatorial residence for personal, rather than public-interest reasons. “The rush was so the governor and his guests could use the mansion this summer season. A rush job was done because the governor lost his personal beach properties in his divorce last year,” said Zeigler in an acerbic tone toward the governor which has become commonplace in recent months. “The governor ordered that the refurbishment be finished by the end of May so that he and his guests could use it. This was a bad use of money available to the state when state parks are closed, and needs of Baldwin County residents that were affected by the BP oil spill have not been met,” Zeigler said.
Alabama business round up: Headlines from across state – 3/29/16 edition
Who’s helping connect early startups with angel investors? What company is joining the Mobile Aeroplex to support Airbus? Who’s pledging $500k to a UAB football building? Answers to all of these questions and more in today’s business roundup: Birmingham Business Journal: ZipCar coming to Alabama The City of Huntsville is set to welcome the popular car sharing service ZipCar this week. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle is scheduled to join ZipCar executives and other local officials Tuesday to welcome the company. In February, the city approved ordinances allowing services like Uber, Lyft and Zipcar to start offering rides within Huntsville city limits. Uber began operating in Huntsville on March 4. Zipcar, a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group, offers monthly membership plans allowing consumers to drive cars billable by the day or hour. The company has more than 500 urban locations worldwide. AL.com: Gulf Shores to extend Spring Break booze ban beyond this year Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft “has no second thoughts” about a beach alcohol ban hastily imposed 11 days ago amid soaring arrests during Spring Break 2016, which was fast getting out of control. Craft and Police Chief Ed Delmore, following Monday’s City Council meeting, both said they support a similar spring-break-only ban of booze on the beaches next year. This year’s ban ends on April 17. “I know this was the right thing for this community,” Craft told AL.com. “Next year, we’ll do the same thing and we’ll continue to do this. We had too many issues with it not to do it on the front end.” Added Delmore: “Everyone needs to know this was a group decision and it’s nothing that none of us are looking back on.” Delmore said the situation on the beach is much more “manageable,” although police have made further arrests. According to Delmore, there had been 461 arrests since March 5, a majority attributed to underage possession of alcohol. This month, the Gulf Shores Police Department has received 3,100 calls for service. The key trouble spot was March 12-18, when police logged 288 criminal charges. Nearly 60 percent were for underage drinking. Last week, when days were damper and cool, and fewer spring breakers came out to the beaches, police filed 129 charges. Of those, 44 were related to underage drinking. Delmore and Craft credited the City Council’s March 18 decision to immediately ban alcohol on the beaches for the decline. The ban came as angry locals were taking to social media to document unruly beach crowds and trashy parties. Craft, himself, witnessed one of the gatherings outside the San Carlos condominium. “You couldn’t see the water and neither could our paramedics or beach attendants. It was a mass of people,” he said. “There was a climate in there for conditions that we were not willing to have happen on our beach.” ‘Manageable’ situation Very little was said about the alcohol ban during Monday’s council meeting. Only Delmore spoke about it as he thanked the council for moving ahead with the ban. “We are still making numerous arrests every day but not nearly at the level we were being forced to prior to that ordinance,” Delmore said. Last year, Panama City Beach, Fla., implemented a spring break booze ban after wild parties sullied that city’s image. This year, reports indicate that the ban drove spring breakers away, to Gulf Shores and elsewhere. This week, national media have described a throbbing spring break scene at Daytona Beach, Fla., where arrests have soared by 327 percent. Very few colleges or universities are on spring break after the end of this week. The Gulf Shores ban ends on April 17. Baldwin County Public Schools are on break this week, with Mobile County Public Schools taking its break April 11-15. The University of Missouri is out this week, but classes have resumed at the University of Alabama, Auburn University, Texas A&M University, University of Texas, the University of Tennessee, Louisiana State University and the University of Arkansas. Read more here. Alabama News Center: Logistics giant Miller Transfer joins Mobile Aeroplex to support Airbus On the day the latest batch of major component assemblies made the trek from the Port of Mobile to Airbus’ U.S. Manufacturing Facility, the Mobile Airport Authority inked its latest tenant agreement with a service provider integral to the operation. The office, which currently employs one person, is responsible for the logistics of physically moving the major component assemblies required by Airbus to assemble A320-family aircraft at its $600 million campus, also located at Brookley. The facility is slated to deliver its first Mobile-assembled A321 to JetBlue soon and reach production of four aircraft per month before the close of 2017, and as many as eight per month in the years following.Pennsylvania-based Miller Transfer will operate out of the second floor of the authority’s Ninth Street headquarters, known as Building 11, at Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley. “We believe that (Miller Transfer’s) decision to join us at the Aeroplex is another byproduct of our commitment to a well-thought-out and deliberate aerospace incubator strategy and adds just one more world-class capability set to the Aeroplex and Mobile,” said Roger Wehner, the airport authority’s executive director. Thursday’s announcement comes less than one week after Germany-based aircraft seat manufacturer Recaro confirmed plans to occupy renovated space on the second floor of the former fire station in the heart of the former U.S. Air Force base, now home to a thriving aviation and aerospace cluster.The airbus incubator strategy offers low-cost, flexible solutions to attract suppliers to Mobile during Airbus’ initial low rate of production. Wehner called the logistics announcement a “big piece” of the broader Airbus and Brookley strategies. Praising Miller Transfer as a “great company,” he said the firm expects to employ as many as five in its large 9th Street office, while also operating a small truck yard and potentially taking advantage of exterior storage options. “Miller Transfer provides world-class, specialized logistics solutions that could serve many large, high-value applications well,” Wehner said. Founded in 1968, Miller Transfer was
Jim Zeigler may give conservative rebuttal to State of the State address
State Auditor Jim Zeigler announced over the weekend two “taxpaying anti-establishment conservative” groups have asked him to give an unorthodox response to Gov. Robert Bentley‘s State of the State address next week. The annual gubernatorial address to the Legislature, set for next Tuesday, Feb. 2 on Groundhog Day. The State of the State is traditionally followed by a “rebuttal” from leaders of the opposing political party. Senate Democratic Leader Quinton Ross and House Democratic Leader Craig Ford are set to give responses on behalf of the minorities in both chambers. But Zeigler says two right-leaning groups, Alabama Tea Party Conservative Coalition and the Common Sense Campaign, have requested an additional response. Both groups are represented by spokesman Dr. Lou Campomenosi, who said Alabamians deserve to hear from an anti-establishment Republican as well as from the party’s standard bearer, Bentley. Despite coming out aggressively against the federal government on Syrian refugee relocation, health care, and other sundry issues, Bentley has been attacked by many conservatives throughout the state as insufficiently conservative. Campomenosi, a former candidate for Baldwin County School Board among other offices, is among the most outspoken of Bentley’s intra-party critics. Zeigler, for his part, has also been vociferous in his disapproval of the governor. Most recently Zeigler targeted Bentley for allegedly spending a portion of a settlement the state received after the 2011 BP oil spill on renovating an official residence in Gulf Shores for personal reasons. Zeigler said Sunday he will review the requests to give a State of the State counter-rebuttal and decide whether or not to deliver it by Wednesday. Bentley recently told AL.com he will not offer any plans to increase taxes or close loopholes in his speech next week, a subject that has rankled many of his GOP peers despite a substantial budget hole facing state government in Montgomery in recent years. “I have three years left in my administration and I have some major things that I want to get accomplished over the next three years, and I’m going to be pushing those things, and I think the people of Alabama, when they hear them in our State of the State, they’re going to be excited about what we’re trying to do,” said Bentley.
Jim Zeigler pounces on Robert Bentley’s move to renovate “eyesore” Gulf Shores mansion
State Auditor Jim Zeigler had harsh words for Gov. Robert Bentley on Monday, saying the administration’s decision to spend commit $1.5 million to fix up the governor’s official residence in Gulf Shores was motivated by Bentley’s recent loss of a personal house there in his recent divorce. Zeigler called Bentley derelict in his inaction to renovate the “dilipidated” 7,500-square-foot mansion until now. “The governor now has a personal need for a Gulf place, so only now is he restoring the governor’s mansion at the gulf,” said Zeigler in a prepared statement. “This is another example of poor stewardship of the state’s resources,” Zeigler said Monday. “It took a personal benefit to correct this dereliction.” Zeigler, who holds a unique ombudsmanlike statewide elected position in Montgomery, pulled no punches in assailing the governor. The two have had cross words more than once in the past over the budget, state parks, and the removal of official portraits of former Govs. George and Lurleen Wallace from the Capitol rotunda. “Neighboring home owners have been complaining about the deserted governor’s gulf mansion for years,” Zeigler said. “Nothing has been done, and the deterioration continued. The original donor of the property sued to get it back, but lost. Nothing got the governor to rehabilitate this property but losing his own personal Gulf house in the divorce. This is the way things go in the Bentley administration.” Zeigler also went after Bentley on the timing and manner of the decision to invest in renovations for the stately home on the Fort Morgan Peninsula, saying the lack of transparency in that process mirrored other moves by the administration. Bentley will “siphon” $1.5 million to $1.8 million from the BP settlement to pay for the Gulf mansion renovation, which started with no announcement to the media or public, according to Zeigler. “Like too many things, this was done in the darkness of night and only confirmed after it was a done deal,” Zeigler said. The Gulf Shores renovation project, first announced in November, is slated to be completed by May. The repair work includes installing a new roof and replacing plumbing, electrical, and heating and air conditioning systems. Weather-battered exterior wood and stucco will be fixed, and much of the interior will be redone. See below for a photo of the abandoned mansion publicized by Zeigler.
Memorial Day weekend events happening across Alabama
On Memorial Day, May 25, Americans will honor and remember all of those who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces. In recognition of the holiday’s rich history, Alabama Today put together a list of Memorial Day weekend events occurring across the state: Auburn Bluegrass On The Plains Monday, May 25 6 p.m. Price: tickets start $15 online, $20 at the gate Featuring a long list of performers, arts and crafts, horse-and-carriage rides, along with food and music vendors. For information visit: www.bluegrassontheplains.com. Birmingham Honoring Those Who Have Served Our Country Sunday, May 24 3 p.m. Price: Free The Alabama Veterans Memorial Foundation in partnership with the Vulcan District Boy Scouts will honor veterans in the annual Remembrance Ceremony. The Foundation will dedicate StepStones to more than 30 veterans, living and deceased and from many states. Come early to view the Blue Star Salute Foundation’s Memorial Exhibit, “Faces of the Price of Freedom” which shows the faces of Alabama’s fallen heroes since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. For information visit: www.alabamaveterans.org. Decatur Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Festival Saturday, May 23 through Sunday, May 24 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Price: Free One of the largest free balloon gatherings in the Southeast, featuring more than 60 balloons, balloon races, kite flying, musical entertainment, a car show, food and a children’s area. For information visit: www.alabamajubilee.net. Gulf Shores Memorial Day Tribute Saturday, May 23 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Price: Adults $7.00, Seniors (65 and older) $5.00, Child (ages 6-12) $4.00 Historical interpreters dressed in U.S. Army uniforms from different eras of the forts’ occupation will conduct special guided tours throughout the day. For more information visit: www.fort-morgan.org. Huntsville North Alabama “Down Home” Soul & Blues Festival Saturday, May 23 to Sunday, May 24 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Price: Tickets start at $75 For information visit: here. Montevallo Alabama National Cemetery Memorial Day Ceremony Monday, May 25 9 a.m. Price: Free Memorial Day observance will include a wreath-laying presentation and cannon salute. For more information visit: www.scalnc.org. A Salute to Our Veterans Monday, May 25 10 a.m. opening; special ceremony from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Price: Free A full day of activities planned, including historical vignettes, musical salutes, re-enactments, games, ceremonies, a Gold Star Salute to the Fallen, and a wreath laying at the Veterans Shrine. For more information visit: here. Montgomery Montgomery Symphony Orchestra’s Jubilee Pops Concert Friday, May 22 7 p.m. Price: Free Pack your picnic basket and cooler and get ready to kick-off Memorial Day weekend on the lawn of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. For information visit: www.montgomerysymphony.org. Tuscaloosa Memorial Day Ceremony Monday, May 25 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Price: Free Presented by the Veterans Memorial Park Association at the Veterans Memorial Park. For information visit www.tuscaloosaveteranspark.org. Have an event you’d like included? Email us here.
State parks on block for budget cuts
A plan by state lawmakers to trim Alabama’s budget would affect state parks. State Rep. Joe Faust told WKRG-TV that parks should be on the top of the list when budget cuts are required. He said state officials should be looking for ways to make the parks self-sustaining. Park Director Lisa Larraway said the budget cuts would not close Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores. It is one of five facilities in the 22-park system that make a profit. But Larraway said the deep financial cuts would still be felt. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has threatened to veto any budget that contains massive cuts. He has said Alabama needs to raise taxes instead. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
