By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
After months of deliberation, amending, and outspoken citizens, the City of Prattville Councilmembers came to a final decision on Tuesday night for the fate of the one-cent sales tax.
There will be an additional one-cent sales tax that will take place throughout the City of Prattville. However, this will take effect after the current one-cent tax commences later this month.
Three ordinances on the agenda, all related to the tax, were passed with slight push back.
The first called for 100 percent of each month’s collections to be deposited into a general reserve bank account. The levy is anticipated to raise approximately $7 Million annually.
The second ordinance calls for 10 percent of each month’s collections to go into a general fund reserve. Once the provisions of the City’s General Fund Reserve Policy are satisfied, that 10 percent will be deposited into an Economic Development Reserves bank account. Funds will then be expended only on economic development projects approved by the City Council of the City of Prattville.
The remaining 90 percent of each month’s collections of the one-percent sales tax will go into the following:
25 percent will be deposited into an Education Reserves bank account and used only for education-related expenses within the corporate limits of the City of Prattville.
25 percent will be deposited into a Parks and Recreation Reserves bank account and used only for Parks and Recreation facilities within the corporate limits of the City of Prattville.
25 percent will be deposited into an Infrastructure Reserves bank account and used only for infrastructure-related expenses within the corporate limits of the City of Prattville.
25 percent will be deposited into a Public Facilities Reserves bank account and used only for public facilities within the corporate limits of the City of Prattville.
This new ordinance lessens the original 50 percent allotted to education to 25 percent, and introduces a Public Facilities Reserves bank account that will garner 25 percent of the monthly collections.
The final ordinance passed established the General Fund Reserves Policy for the City of Prattville to identify the parameters and calculations required to maintain an adequate balance in the General Fund Reserves Bank Account. After an amendment presented by Councilman Albert Striplin, the general fund cash reserves now must meet at least $6 Million instead of the previously presented $10 Million.
Not everyone was in-line with the new decision to split the monthly collections into quarters. District 2 Councilman Marcus Jackson and Council President Jerry Starnes voted no – making it a 5-2 decision. Starnes explained that he saw the original ordinance to be more favorable, citing that he would have liked to see more money put into education.
District 6 Councilman Robert Strichik said that it was imperative that a decision was made Tuesday night.
“We have a lot of work to do. It’s not always easy, even at your own home, deciding how to spend money. This is a significant amount of money that’s important to our city,” Strichik said.
“We all ran for this office for the betterment of our community. No one’s here trying to hurt this community. No one is up here trying to make any back door deals or trying to get rich. We’re not always going to agree, but that’s just part of government. We have an opportunity now to move forward with some projects that have needed to get done for a long time.”
Others, like former Council President Dean Argo, pleaded with the council to not pass the tax at all.
“I was on this council 10 years ago when this tax was passed and I voted against it then. If I was sitting where you all are tonight, I would vote against it again,” Argo said.
“Government is supposed to be small. Let’s work on city government first. Let’s look at ways to cut back. Let’s look at ways that we can save money before we strap the people with a sales tax. If you’re going to continue the one-cent sales tax, it should be for the reason that it was promised – and that’s to pay off debt.”
Richard Harrison, a Prattville resident, was vehemently against the passing of the tax.
“When the discussion of the one-cent sales tax extension first came about, I was on board. I was under the impression that there could be some good things to do with these funds. Over the past couple of months, I’ve changed my mind. It seems like everyone wants a piece of the pie at the citizen’s expense. I fear these funds will be wasted due to greed,” Harrison said.
Mayor Bill Gillespie said he was pleased that the ordinances were passed on Tuesday night.
“If ordinance 6 (the allotment of the monthly collections) had not been passed tonight, it would not have been the end of the world. I do think, however, it was best that council took action, because this has been going on for quite some time. I want to commend the councilors for all their hard-work on it,” Gillespie said.
It was also announced that an education oversight committee would be decided through the city council. The committee would help determine where the money deposited into the Education Reserves Bank Account would be spent.
Council President Jerry Starnes said that the committee’s meetings would be open to the public.
