Birmingham, AL - All five Jefferson County Commissioners and more than a dozen members of Jefferson County's legislative delegation met for over two hours Wednesday to discuss the possibility of a new occupational tax.  Commissioners have had to cut millions from the county's budget over the past several months after a judge ruled in January the tax was illegal.  The county has appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court but it cannot spend the nearly $7 million a month until the high court ultimately rules on the legality of the tax.

Most state lawmakers say they want to help restore some funding.  But they say they are not willing to write a blank check.  Representative Merika Coleman believes, "We need to be able to plug that hole, but with that the public wants to understand and know their tax dollars are going to where they are supposed to go."  Representative Jack Williams added, "The response I have gotten from most of my constituents is not solve the occupational tax issue, it's been Jefferson County's problems need to be solved.  I don't think the legislature is prepared to just re-institute the occupational tax without some changes to county government."

Some commissioners expressed concerns that the meeting focused more on county management as opposed to the occupational tax.  Commission President Bettye Fine Collins said, "All this conversation would have been good at another time, but right now as we stand, we are the titanic and we are sinking.  It seemed they wanted to share their fault findings of our operation with us."  Commissioner Jim Carns said there is a definite connection between the occupational tax and talk of how well the county spends taxpayer money.  Carns said after the meeting, "I think right now it's connected because people don't have the confidence that's there."

This was the second in a series of meetings organized by Senator Rodger Smitherman.  He is hoping lawmakers will agree on a compromise occupational tax bill.  Several versions died during this year's legislative session.  Smitherman said he was pleased with the cooperative spirit he saw Wednesday.  "I think it goes to he heart of the wheel.  I think everyone that was here realizes we have a financial problem in this county.  The part that we are trying to sort out is how to solve that problem."

Smitherman plans to hold a third meeting within 2 weeks in hopes of coming to some type of agreement.  It's still unclear what form the bill will take.  Smitherman does plan to introduce it as a general bill with local application in order to avoid one person being able to hold up the bill's chances of passing.

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