Alabama Considers State Tax to Save Broke County

Friday, August 7, 2009 11:47 AM

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said he probably will call in legislators for a special session next week to consider a new tax to rescue the state's most populous county from a financial crisis.

Riley said on Thursday he has called legislators from financially strapped Jefferson County and around the state to make sure there is support to pass the tax and a package of related government accountability bills. He said he expects to decide by Friday whether to call the session.

The co-chairman of the Jefferson County House delegation, Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, said he believes the governor will call the session and that the bills have the support to pass.

"I'm already packing my bags for Montgomery," Rogers said.

He said he expects the special session would begin Monday and be completed by the end of the week, the five-day minimum it takes to enact a new law.

During a tour of a new Montgomery junior high school, Riley said he is advising lawmakers not to make any plans for Monday.

Jefferson County legislators have drafted a proposed new occupational tax aimed at raising revenue that was lost when an old tax was struck down by a court. More than one-fourth of the county's 3,600 employees are on unpaid leave due to the lost revenue.

Rogers said he doesn't much like the proposed bill to replace the tax, but said he's anxious to restore jobs for the county's workers and county services for its 640,000 residents.

"It will put some money back into the county coffers and the people can go back to work," Rogers said.

Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner, a Republican from Vestavia Hills in Jefferson County, has been helping craft the bills.

He said a measure creating a county manager and establishing new county accounting procedures must pass along with the occupational tax if the tax bill is to receive support from Republicans.

When asked if most of Jefferson County's Republican legislators will support the tax, he said, "Some will. Most won't. There is enough support for it to pass both houses."

The special session will be unusual since it will deal with local bills that pertain only to Jefferson County. Because of that, Jefferson County legislators have said they will ask that lawmakers from other parts of the state mostly avoid voting on the bills.

Officials with the House and Senate said a quorum must be present -- 53 members in the House and 18 in the Senate -- but that only a simple majority of those voting would be required to pass the legislation.

Legislators from outside Jefferson said Thursday they mostly expect to not vote on the bills.

House Majority Leader Rep. Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hills, said he considers the bills "a local issue" although many residents of his Walker County district work in adjacent Jefferson County.

"They are still going to get my courtesy and I will stay out of it," Guin said.

House Minority Leader Rep. Mike Hubbard said he's trying to make sure enough members show up to provide a quorum.

"But I'm going to abstain. It really just deals with that one county," Hubbard said.

Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little, D-Cullman, said senators normally stay out of issues that don't affect the counties they represent, but the Jefferson County occupational tax is different because so many people drive from other counties to Jefferson County to work. He said he couldn't promise he would stay out of the debate.

"It's more than just a local issue. I've got approximately 3,000 residents of Cullman County who work in Jefferson County," he said.

One member of the Jefferson County delegation, Rep. Oliver Robinson, D-Birmingham, said the bills will pass as long as lawmakers from around the state stay out of the fight.

He said he expects some Republican members of the delegation to vote against the bill, but he doesn't believe anyone will use delaying tactics or other strategies to try to kill the legislation.

"My hope is no one will try to derail what I see as a piece of the puzzle to try to put Jefferson County back together," Robinson said.

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