A Plan to $ave Jefferson County

     The biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history has prompted a Republican State Senator to convince the Super-Majority GOP Senate to vote in favor of allowing Jefferson county to raise taxes to pay its obligations.
     
     Here's the news release from Alabama Senate Majority Leader Jabbo Waggoner, explaining the unusual action:

For Immediate Release: Senate Advances Jefferson County Home Rule Taxing Authority Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

For Immediate Release Senate Advances Jefferson County Home Rule Taxing Authority MONTGOMERY - Today, the Alabama Senate passed SB567, authored by Senator Jabo Waggoner, a Jefferson County resident and Senate Majority Leader. The bill would allow the Jefferson County commission broad latitude to come up with a package of revenue increases in order to balance the county budget. An amendment added a "sunset" provision that removes the taxing authority after 36 months.   Birmingham has the unfortunate distinction of being the biggest municipal bankruptcy in American history. In asking his colleagues to support the legislation, Senator Waggoner adamantly addressed any concerns that a favorable vote is a vote to raise taxes. "If you vote for this bill you are not voting for this tax. A tax cannot originate in the Senate (by law). We are merely giving the Jefferson County Commission the ability to deal with their financial problems", said Waggoner. Waggoner went on to stress that this is an Alabama problem as Jefferson County is the economic engine of this state. We have to have some help to help ourselves. Fiscal conservatives are at odds with a desire not to raise taxes on the one hand, and the inherent irresponsibility of not taking responsibility for ones financial obligations. SB567 creates a framework for meeting the obligations of the bankruptcy determinations. While some lawmakers had lingering concerns about whether the Jefferson County Commissioners could do more to cut costs and operate more efficiently, Senator Waggoner's proposal puts the control on the local level and provides "home rule" for Jefferson County. Commissioners who raise taxes too much and fail to make enough cuts will have to face the voters. So this gives control to Jefferson County voters to decided how to restore the solvency of their county. As the  proposal is limited to counties that have both filed for chapter 9 and been found eligible by a judge will have the authority to levy limited taxes. Senator Waggoner, Vestavia Hills, is the Senate Majority leader, and the longest serving legislator from Jefferson County.