By Patrick McCreless
The Alabama Legislature recently overrode the governor’s veto of a bill that will shift control of certain monies from the Cullman County Commission to a newly created government body.
Gov. Bob Riley vetoed the bill last week, as local legislators expected, but the House quickly overrode it Thursday, with the Senate following suit Tuesday.
“There were no ‘no’ votes on the override,” said Rep. Jeremy Oden.
Referred to as House bill 620 and sponsored by Oden, Rep. James Fields and Sen. Zeb Little, the legislation calls for the establishment of a Cullman County Community Development Commission. The organization’s sole responsibility will be to distribute money provided to the county from state-collected funds from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as well as money provided to the county from state alcohol sales taxes.
Riley has vetoed similar bills passed for other counties in the state, all of which were overridden by the Legislature.
Oden, Little and Fields have argued that through the development commission, more funding will be available to help small municipalities, unincorporated areas and local organizations like Cullman Mental Health. They have also said state law requires the commission be created.
According to an Alabama statute passed in 2006, all counties who receive the monies listed above were required to pass local legislation to distribute it. Cullman failed to comply, which prompted the creation of the bill.
The commission will consist of five members, four of which will be appointed by legislators who represent the county while the fifth will be rotated every two years between the mayors of the county’s two largest cities, which are currently Cullman and Hanceville. The fifth seat was part of an amendment to a similar bill introduced in the Senate. The fifth member was originally to be appointed by the county’s mayoral board.
Oden said he and his fellow legislators would probably meet in two weeks to begin the appointment process.
“I haven’t scheduled a meeting, but I’ll probably schedule one this weekend,” Oden said.
Oden said he was not ready to reveal who he plans to appoint to the commission.
“I’ve got several people in mind, but I haven’t conferred with them yet,” Oden said.
He added that after the board members are appointed, it would be some time before they start distributing the money.
“It will probably be mid-summer before they start giving out money,” Oden said. “They’ll have to set rules and procedures first.”
The TVA money in question accounts for an extra 3 percent added to the 75 percent of funding north Alabama counties receive from TVA’s annual in-lieu-of-taxes payments to the state. The 3 percent is paid only to dry counties that are TVA customers.
The alcohol sales tax money in question is distributed to Cullman — despite being a dry county — because of the Terri Pines Country Club. According to Alabama law, if they meet the proper criteria, certain groups and organizations such as country clubs can sell alcohol in dry counties. Since Terri Pines is allowed to sell alcohol, Cullman receives a portion of the state’s alcohol sales tax revenue.
In 2008, Cullman received approximately $184,000 through the 3 percent funding — 50 percent of which went to the county’s road and bridge fund, while 25 percent went to the general fund and 25 percent was dispersed among the area’s municipalities based on population.
Also that year, the county received $130,000 from state alcohol taxes, which was all placed in the county general fund.
As stipulated in the bill, 50 percent of the alcohol money will automatically be dispersed among the municipalities based on population.
Both funding sources are expected to increase annually.
The Cullman County Commission and several local politicians have been staunchly opposed to the bill. County Commission Chairman James Graves has said the bill would create little more than a slush fund for legislators to win votes and it would take needed road money away from the county.
West Point Mayor and President of the Cullman County Mayor’s Association Kenneth Kilgo said the bill will create unnecessary government bureaucracy.
“Our position is we’ve already got a mechanism in place,” Kilgo said. “Right now with these funds, it’s coming through the county commission. When you take any future increases in alcohol and tax money and put it in a separate funding mechanism, then you’ve added a level of bureaucracy to the government. There will be additional transaction costs on that money.”
Graves added that he is concerned about the bill’s lack of details on how the development commission will distribute the funds.
“Myself and the commission all agree the bill is so vague that it doesn’t spell out anything specifically,” Graves said. “There’s got to be parameters set up. I will make sure they are entitled to spend this.”
‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.
