ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — The city of Orange Beach makes its final payment this year to the company who owns the Foley Beach Express toll bridge.

Ten years ago the city and the company that owned it then agreed the city would give the struggling company $12 million during 10 years, or $1.2 million a year. The city’s payback was based on a per-car fee the owners of the bridge, now American Roads, would pay back the city.

The city gets 10 cents per car if the number of cars is less than two million, 21 cents if traffic volume is between two and three million cars and 36 cents per car if traffic exceeds three million cars.

“In the best-case scenario it was a great deal,” Mayor Tony Kennon said. “We make some money based on projections. The trouble is no one put anything in about toll control and there were no triggers put in if there was a worse-case scenario took place and that’s exactly what happened.

“The housing bubble burst, financial crisis, banking crisis. So now instead of seeing the traffic linearly increasing every year it’s a rollercoaster at best and we’re losing money.”

For the next 20 years the city will make no more payments to the company, but receive 30 cents per car. Mayor Tony Kennon says the city is not assured to make back all of its investment.

“It’s 20 years now that we get 30 cents a car to recoup from the $6 million we’re in the hole from the deal here,” Kennon said. “At the current rate of traffic the best we can hope for is to break even over the next 20 years. That’s give or take. We may make a few million, we may not. Right now the best we can hope for is to at least recoup our $6 million.”

According Kennon the city was asked to make the payment to help the struggling first owners of the bridge.

“All that was ever told to us was that the bridge company was in financial trouble and was not going to complete it and they needed the money to finish it and the city tried to work out a deal where they could make money over time and that’s how that it all came about,” Kennon said. “The last four or five or six years we’ve been losing money on that deal to the tune of half a million a year give or take.”

According to City Administrator Ken Grimes the bridge was first owned by a company called Baldwin Beach Express, at that time owned by the McGinness and James families.

“They made an agreement with the city and basically it was to offer an influx of cash on an annual basis that they needed at the time,” Grimes said. “I think a lot of it was just due to their debt service and where they were and not as many cars coming through in those early years.”

Grimes said there was only one year when the city actually recouped all the money invested.

“The only year that we actually exceeded our $1.2 million amount was in the year after Ivan,” he said. “All the contractors were coming in, all the people were returning to do work, Ivan had hit and devastated a lot of properties so you had all the additional workers, deliveries and so on.”

The problem with the deal, both officials said, was a free reign the company came away with on the price of the toll in the negotiated deal.

“They can raise the toll, have less traffic and make more money because the revenue goes up and they have to pay us less because the traffic goes down,” Kennon said. “The contract should have been structured with more triggers in place to protect us. It should have been a sliding scale. Toll control should have been negotiated.”

Currently it cost $3.50 to go across the bridge. The only break negotiated was for voters registered in Orange Beach can get a half-priced toll. Kennon says there are 8,000 registered voters in Orange Beach but only 5,500 fulltime residents.

The company also offers several other discount plans for unlimited use for a year or nonresidents can pay a one-time fee and receive a partial discount.

Residents who prepay and receive a card can go through the toll for $1.50.