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President's Message
- Legislative Preview Issue 2004
2005 Legislative Program to Guide Association
There's no question that this edition of The County Commissioner is a bit unusual. But, then again, the last 24 months have been unusual for Alabama counties and our state's 140 legislators.
This month's magazine is devoted exclusively to information regarding the Association's Legislative Program for the 2005 year. We'll return to our regular format -- columns from our staff, stories about important events in county government, photographs of county officials -- in the next edition. That edition will include information on our Legislative Conference, our successful district meetings, our orientation and educational efforts for the more than 60 new county commissioners, and our recently-completed educational sessions for the supervisors in our county road departments.
But in the meantime, this publication looks more like a resource document than a four-color magazine. And that's how it should be, I guess, considering that the Legislature is back in session and county officials are back at work.
The start of the Regular Session for 2005 signaled the seventh session of the Alabama Legislature during the last 24 months. In its own way, each session has been demanding for both legislators and county officials. And each session has focused -- in one way or another -- on the financial condition of the state. This year's regular session, ending in mid-May, will be no different.
Alabama's general fund budget, which finances the non-educational services, is once again facing a large deficit. This year's version is about $250 million or so short of the revenue needed for Medicaid. Our prison system is overflowing -- AGAIN -- and there appears to be no money to fund expansion or new construction.
County officials are once again poised to assist in the search for new state funds, while standing firm in opposition to any proposals that will reduce county funds or freeze county revenue at the current levels. Our message has been consistent: state government's financial problems simply cannot be solved by imposing further financial difficulties on county government.
In 2004, this position resonated with a majority of the legislators who joined us in protecting the financial condition of county government. If it is to again "carry the day" in Montgomery, county officials must devote their time and energy to this effort.
During this session, a host of other issues are expected to face counties. Challenges such as the reform of our state's emergency response efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, a complete overhaul of our "open meetings" law and efforts to block the move to annual reappraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes are just over the horizon. Counties will once again find themselves in the midst of the most controversial -- and, yes, most important -- legislative battles.
It will be within that environment that we strive to advance our own legislative agenda. We'll work hard to obtain the authority to call local votes on granting counties "health and safety" powers, to pass legislation improving our ability to enforce sub-division regulations, to require the Department of Corrections to make direct payments to hospitals for the medical care of state inmates, and to pass the other eight or so bills our members have voted to include in our legislative package for 2005.
The passage of this legislation will take the dedication of many. But I have no doubt that we'll again have a broad-based effort from county elected officials, employees and our friends from throughout the state.
As your president, I am extremely grateful for the hard work that has brought us to this point. Almost 100 of you served on Steering Committees that worked to generate the "ideas" that now form the basis of our Legislative Program. Our elected Legislative Committee refined those ideas, our Board of Directors polished the ideas into a "proposed" Legislative Program and then the membership put on the final touches during our well-attended Legislative Conference in December.
And now that the preparation is over, there's not much else to say. And, in one way, I guess that's why we have devoted this entire issue to our Legislative Program. If we are to succeed, county officials must devote their entire attention (and their entire magazine) to the Legislative Program.
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