BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
The Town of Coosada will host a meeting May 1 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall for residents who have questions about the recent announcement regarding the future of the police and fire jurisdictions.
One meeting was already been held April 24 for business owners within in the police jurisdiction.
In essence, Coosada is one of nearly 130 towns and cities that recently failed to comply with a 2021 reporting law. The law states that municipalities must notify the state Examiners of Public Accounts that the local government collect licensing fees and taxes within the jurisdictions outside of their corporate limits. Beginning in March of last year, cities and towns were mandated to report annually any fees and tax revenues collected in the police jurisdictions. They were also mandated to specify what services are provided in those jurisdictions and how those funds are used.
According to the list, Coosada is one of many that did not issue those reports within the mandated 12-month time period.
How that happened is not clear, as officials from Coosada have not yet returned messages or phone calls from the EAN offering an official statement. We do plan to attend the meeting May 1 and hope to have a better explanation of how Coosada finds itself in this position. But as earlier stated, they are not alone in this issue.
The full list of areas that did or did not comply can be found in the Alabama Daily News article here – https://aldailynews.com/failure-to-comply-with-reporting-law-could-end-police-jurisdictions-in-128-cities/?fbclid=IwAR00TltF4JsAZrOibu6CRSpgUlS4_XFkwnntfKfUZcFw3vh9PiPdz8ETBu0
Johnny Carothers lives in the current Coosada police jurisdiction and is a business owner. He attended the meeting held April 24, but says he walked away with more questions than answers, and frustrated.
One of his questions is “what is the map of the fire district for the Coosada Fire Department.”
We were able to locate a map, and it is on this page. We are also told that the map can be found at Town Hall of city limits and the police jurisdiction map.
“I knew about this bill two years ago and that (Coosada) had until March 31 of this year to submit information on revenue, what fees they collect, or how they spend that money back in the jurisdiction,” Carothers told the EAN.
He continued, “My argument is that I live in the jurisdiction just a quarter mile outside of city limits. Coosada has been bugging me for years to annex my house and land in the town. But what services would I get? I can understand the police department backing away from the PJ. We would still have the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office. But what about fire service in the PJ? Who would take that over? I learned that currently the fire fees are collected by the City of Coosada, while other departments collect their own. I have also been told that fire service follows the fire district and has nothing to do with municipal lines.”
We are working on getting those questions answered as well.
“I think they (Coosada government) screwed up, now they are panicking, and using it to punish us. They want everyone to just annex into Coosada that can. They are panicking because they are looking at the revenue they could lose,” Carothers said.
Some in the current Coosada police jurisdiction also have another option. Depending on where their property is located, and if it is contiguous, they could be annexed into other areas, such as the Millbrook city limits.
We will continue following this issue, and will report again after the meeting May 1, 6 p.m. at Coosada Town Hall. We confirmed the meeting is still scheduled so far.
