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Alabama Scene
Taxes earmarked for the Education Trust Fund which supports public schools and colleges produced $5.4 billion...up a whopping 10.6 per cent...and the General Fund taxes generated $1.6 billion, up 13.7 per cent. What is even more astonishing is that as recent as three years ago the state was in such dire financial straits that Gov. Bob Riley had proposed tax increases of more than $1 billion. The good financial news had to be of political benefit to Gov. Riley because of an old rule: Incumbent governor's (and President's) get credit for good economic times and they get blamed for bad economic times...although they have little or nothing to do with either. State Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Fayette, was quick to point this out. "Whoever's in office claims credit for the good and blames the bad on the previous administration," Bedford said. It has attracted little attention to date, but there is a proposed amendment to the State Constitution on Nov. 7 worthy of note. To explain its impact I need to back into it: There is a requirement that every school district in Alabama...there are 131 of them...must collect 10 mills in property taxes "or its equivalent" for schools. There are 31 districts which do not meet this 10 mill requirement but instead make up the difference with money generated from a local sales tax. The amendment on the ballot would mandate that these 31 districts raise their property tax to the 10 mill threshold...which would be a tax hike of 10 cents on each $100 of taxable property. The county school systems impacted by this amendment are Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Cullman, Dale, Elmore, Fayette, Hale, Houston, Jackson, Lamar, Lawrence, Limestone, Marengo, Marion, Montgomery, Pike, Tuscaloosa and Walker. The city school systems are Andalusia, Arab, Athens, Daleville, Dothan and Linden. I hate to give him the publicity which he seems to crave, but the suggestion made a few days ago by Larry Darby to the State Democratic Party makes you wonder if this man is playing with a full deck. Darby is the guy who ran for attorney general in the Democratic Primary, and while he lost, he polled an astonishing number of votes...167,067 to be exact. And this in spite of the fact that some of his views were far out of the mainstream. So far, in fact, that the State Democratic Committee passed a resolution in August telling Darby he was not welcome in the party. Despite this, a few days ago Darby called on the party to dump Lucy Baxley as the nominee for governor and handpick him instead because she does not have "a discernable or meaningful platform." Be certain the Democratic party leadership very quickly told Darby to forget it... Having been in the print media so long...and early in my career having done my share of proof-reading...I still get a chuckle when I see an error in print. Here is one I have to share, thanks to a reader in Andalusia who sent the clipping to me. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources recently distributed statewide its 2006-2007 Hunting and Fishing Digest. It includes all the laws and regulations applicable to that sport. Inside this publication is a full-page letter from Gov. Bob Riley in which he boasts about the state's natural resources and urges all Alabamians to protect these resources. Just a warm and fuzzy letter. The letter is written on the official stationery of the governor and in the upper left hand corner of the stationery appears the following: Office of the Governor Don Siegelman Governor Could be that there is a proof reader in the Department of Conservation who may soon be looking for a new job.
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