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Putting an ad-valorem tax up for a vote of the people isn’t such a simple request.
At recent meetings of the Escambia County Commission, members of the Escambia County Healthcare Authority had asked if it were possible for the addition of an ad-valorem tax to be put up for a vote. The request was made to, hopefully, create some revenue for a struggling healthcare situation locally. The request was a 4 mill property tax earmarked for hospitals in the county.
In Monday’s meeting of the Commission, the group agreed to send a request to the Attorney General’s office asking for an opinion of whether the county has the ability to place such a measure on the ballot for consideration by voters.
In a workshop session last Tuesday, commissioners heard from Chairman Raymond Wiggins on moving forward with a request.
“We received a letter from the HCA attorney asking us to put out a vote for a tax increase,” Wiggins said. “But, we need the AG’s opinion to make sure we are clear on moving forward with the Authority.”
Wiggins told Commissioners that the HCA would need to submit a formal letter of request for an AGs opinion on the matter.
“The letter we received from their attorney wasn’t what we requested,” Wiggins said. “When we get that request, we can move forward in seeking the AGs opinion.”
With that request coming to the Commission between Tuesday’s workshop and Monday’s meeting, the group agreed to move forward to seek the opinion of the Attorney General.
Two bills are currently in place that were passed by the Alabama Legislature in 1947. Those bills led to the current 4 mill tax in Escambia County. A state-wide bill was also voted on with the 4 mill tax.
The commission is currently seeking the Attorney General’s opinion to determine if, with those current bills in place, to see if the commission has the right to place the item on the ballot aimed at collecting an additional 4 mill tax.
In other business Monday, the Commission:
• approved a public works jail roof competitive bid. Sheriff Heath Jackson told commissioners the 34-year-old building is leaking and it would take about one-third of the cost of the building to replace the roof.
• approved the appointment of Chairman Wiggins as the 2024 ACCA Legislative Committee representative;
• approved a contract with Harris Local Government proposal for Smart Fusion Software Solutions for the purpose of transferring data from the old Delta system to an updated data system at a cost of $92,000 initially with a $35,000 fee annual over the five-year contract;
• approved the submission of Rebuild Alabama FY 2025 County Transportation Plan to include James Road and Bethel Road/County Rd. 19 in the project. Other areas will also be considered under the new FY project;
• approved the Mill Creek Subdivision Plat;
• approved the addition of Michael Baker International and Civil Southeast LLC to on-call engineering list;
• approved the South Alabama Mutual Aid Agreement. Sheriff Jackson said the agreement would mean mutual aid in times of disaster for all 67 counties in the state including Escambia. “When other counties have disasters, we send our guys to cook and help out,” Jackson said. “With this agreement, they would come to help us in a time of need.”
• approved a tri-party agreement for Jail Warden services.