Thread: Gov. signs bill for new tax to rescue county

Gov. signs bill for new tax to rescue county

By BOB JOHNSON, The Associated Press
4:03 p.m. August 14, 2009

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Bob Riley approved a new tax Friday to help rescue the state's most populous county from a severe budget crisis, a move that should put 1,000 laid-off county workers back to work.

Jefferson County residents have faced long lines to conduct business in recent weeks because satellite courthouses closed and other offices cut back hours in the wake of the financial trouble. Jefferson County is home to about 640,000 people and Alabama's largest city, Birmingham.

The Republican governor signed two bills into law after a quick special session. One creates an occupational tax for all of the workers in the county and the other called for the county to hire a manager to oversee finances.

"A lot of people took very difficult votes for the ultimate good of Jefferson County and I appreciate them doing that," Riley said.

Jefferson County officials did not immediately announce when laid-off government employees would return, but residents were eager for the more than one-fourth of the county work force to get back on the job.

In Birmingham, more than 100 people had stood in line for hours waiting to get driver's licenses or handle other business at the Jefferson County Courthouse. Many sat in lawn chairs with books in a hall; some had pizza delivered.

Holding her 7-month-old son after more than five hours in line to renew her car tags, Regina Kennedy was worried she was going to miss her route as a county school bus driver.

"They can't get it all reopened fast enough for me," said Kennedy. "They got the tax through. That's what they wanted all along."

The bill levies a .45 percent tax on all workers in the county, replacing a more than 40-year-old occupational tax that has been thrown out by the courts. The bill also sets up a referendum in June 2012 for county residents to vote on the tax. If the tax is defeated, it would be phased out over five years.

As lawmakers shook hands with the governor and congratulated each other on a successful special session, several legislators warned that Jefferson County still faces possible bankruptcy because of its inability to pay a $3.9 billion sewer bond debt.

"That is the part of the county's history that still has to be reckoned with," said Rep. Oliver Robinson, D-Birmingham. "We've taken the pebble off the table, but the boulder is still there. The county still has a serious financial problem."
–––
Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Birmingham contributed to this report.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=149588

We will be seeing a lot more of this, as there are muni bonds out there that have been purchased by Americans for tax-exempt income, some relying on the income to pay ordinary bills, like FOOD!
So what has this county or any other spent the money on? Freebies to illegals perhaps? Audit the crap out of every governmental agency.