By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
“It’s not over yet.”
Those were the words spoken by Autauga County District 5 Commissioner Larry Stoudemire on Tuesday afternoon, as his proposed Sunday Alcohol Salea ordinance failed for the third meeting in a row.
Stoudemire’s ordinance would see the sale of alcohol in unincorporated parts of Autauga County on Sundays.
The resolution failed 3-2, the same outcome from the previous two votes. District 2 Commissioner John Thrailkill, District 3 Commissioner Bill Tatum, and District 4/ Commission Chairman Jay Thompson voted against the ordinance.
Stoudemire says that he plans to put the item back on the agenda for a fourth time at the August 3rd meeting.
“I got turned down again, for the third time. I’m hoping that they have a change of heart about it, because we are losing a lot of revenue out in the county. If people come in and buy alcohol on Sundays, then they’ll get something else also. It’s not all just about the alcohol – it’s about them buying other items when you walk in the store. I think this ordinance is more than being fair to our citizens out there in the county to help their business,” Stoudemire said.
Last week, County Administrator Scott Kramer explained that the yearly revenue that would generated on Sunday’s outside of the City of Prattville but within the county would be fairly miniscule.
Kramer explained that there are two sources of revenue to be considered – liquor sales revenue and sales tax revenue.
The first is liquor sales revenue. The county collected $188,000 in liquor sales revenue in the last 12 months. That’s based on sales of every day of the year within the City of Prattville and every day except Sundays outside the City but within the County.
There’s also sales tax revenue. The County Commission receives half of 1 percent in sales tax.
For example, $150,000 in sales generates $750 in sales tax revenue for the county annually.
Regardless of the income that Sunday sales would generate, one citizen at the meeting was in full support for the resolution.
“It doesn’t make sense to hinder 27 businesses that are already existing in the county from selling alcohol on Sunday. It doesn’t make sense that we have three people that are holding up Sunday alcohol sales throughout the county when every other county around us is already doing it,” said Jackie Speigner, Autauga County resident.
Stoudemire believes that it boils down to loyalty.
“Those businesses out in the county are taking care of us and helping us make some revenue, so we should be loyal to them and help them continue to make more money. It may not be a lot, but to them it is,” Stoudemire said.
In other news,
Waste Management official Mike Mitchell paid a visit to the Autauga County Commission meeting on Tuesday. He did not address the commission, nor did he give an update about the current state of waste management throughout the county. However, Waste Management has been visiting with multiple government agencies over the past year. The company has been working to try to improve garbage service since buying out the business last year.
Complaints are still prevalent in Autauga and Elmore counties about delayed service, long waits on hold when contacting the company, inability to get a new trash can, etc.
Also, the Commission approved the Sage Hill subdivision, located at the intersection of County Road 21 and County Road 43.
They also approved a resolution for a project that would involve the leveling, resurfacing, and the painting of a traffic stripe from CR-29 and CR-27 from SR-14 to SR-14.
