http://www.myfoxal.com/Global/story.asp?S=14262879
Wednesday, The Alabama Supreme Court in a 6-0 ruling upheld Montgomery Circuit Judge Charles Price's decision to strike down the occupational tax for Jefferson County.
Commissioners say this will lead to a financial crisis for the county which could mean the loss of county services and jobs.
The County says they may ask the Legislature to approve ANOTHER occupational tax. Geeze, how many times does it have to be struck down before the county AND the Legislature understand that a DIFFERENT solution must be found?
The real story here...is that Birmingham city has watched folks pack up and leave the city over the past three decades. If you make over $60k a year from a job in Birmingham, then the odds are that you live outside of the county and drive to work each day.
ReplyDeleteThe cause? Between crime, corruption and local politics...it's a plain joke to live in the county. If you point any of these out to the locals...they just grin because no one is about to fix or correct anything.
If they don't get the money? Well...they may talk about cut services but they've already bankrupted themselves into various corners, and done nothing. I anticipate by 2015 that the city is dragged into forced bankruptcy and someone from either the federal government or the state government arrives to administer the county for a minimum of five years.
Oh, and if they were looking for a legal tax to fit into the problem....a suggestion...a commercial property tax to hit all these big companies that pay out the better salaries. Course, the companies would pay off the local county council to ensure that never comes up.
I've lived in Montgomery for almost 30 years, and I had to pay the Jefferson County occupational tax for a while. I worked as a contractor for Regions (when it was still in Montgomery). I lived in Montgomery, Regions was headquartered in Montgomery, I did the WORK in Montgomery, but I had to pay the Jefferson County occupational tax because the contracting firm I was going through was based in Birmingham. There's something wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteJefferson county has major problems, I agree. In fact, I don't know why they haven't ALREADY gone belly up. Hopefully, this will happen soon, and the incompetents, both elected and hired, can be dispensed with.
Heard that, in spite of ALL this, they're STILL trying to get funding for a domed stadium!
Our word for the day, children, is idiot. Can you say idiot?