What went wrong
in Hoover

Hoover pays for itself with sales tax. Roughly 65 cents of every general-fund dollar comes from it, and the property that produced more of that than any other is now for sale.

The Riverchase Galleria went into special servicing and was listed in June 2026. A consultant the city hired found the mall’s contribution to the tax base has dropped 41 percent since 2007. Over the same period an outside forensic review found the Finance Department had overstated the General Fund balance by more than $36 million, and that hundreds of finance folders were emptied off city servers during a 50-minute window one night in July 2023. The reviewers could not account for the deletions. They also found no evidence that anyone stole money.

Building continued anyway. The council kept approving apartments and committing tens of millions in tax rebates to developers at other sites. Department heads later added up about $150 million in deferred infrastructure work, and residents sued the city over flooding. Voters removed a two-term mayor in 2025.

Not everything on this list is connected to the money. The police shootings, the Islamic Academy zoning fight and the school desegregation case that has been open for sixty years came from somewhere else entirely.