Commission talks about TVA funds
By Ross Wood Contributing Writer

The Clarke County Commission approved a bid for a NRCS emergency watershed protection project on the Evergreen Road Monday morning.

Burnett Civil Contracting from Montgomery was the low bidder with $548,344.00.

The bid was approved contingent upon everything in the bid package being satisfactory.

TVA funds

Commissioners also discussed the pending TVA bill in the Alabama Legislature that would cut funding for dry counties. "It is doubtful that it will pass," Commissioner Rhondel Rhone said. "It is unlikely that it will even come up" this session.

"But one day that bill will pass," Commissioner Paul Bradford said. "That will be about $240,000 a year we would lose in our budget and with the rising cost of fuel, that would be substantial."

Clarke County and 14 other dry counties could soon lose a sizeable chunk of their general fund budgets if a legislative bill passes that would end Tennessee Valley Authority funding.

Clarke County annually receives $190,000 to $200,000 in TVA funding, money that the county can't afford to lose, said Commissioner Rhondel Rhone at a recent commission meeting where a resolution was passed opposing the bill.

The Association of County Commissions is also opposing the bill because it takes funding away without offering a replacement. The association's director, Sonny Brasfield, said TVA funds account for about 10 percent of most dry counties' funding.

The funding has a complicated history typical of Alabama politics.

A dispute over liquor revenues in 1978 prompted legislation that gave dry countieseven those not served by TVA- 5 percent of the state's TVA revenue.

That amounts to nearly $5 million annually that is divided among the dry counties.

Alabama Power's taxes, by comparison, remain in the counties it serves while TVA payments are sent to Montgomery.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, DGuntersville. He said he had no doubt the money was being put to good use in the dry counties. However, "The people I represent are paying that money for you to use in your county [dry counties] and we certainly have a lot of needs in our county. The subsidy has lasted for 30 years and it's time for that subsidy to end. I don't think it was ever meant to be perpetual," he told the Huntsville Times.

His bill would reduce TVA funding to dry counties by 20 percent a year over a five-year period and return it to TVA counties. He said that would allow the affected counties a chance to search for new revenue.

The bill passed a House committee on a 12-2 vote last week but not without some harsh words.

Rep. Richard Laird, DRoanoke, whose district includes three of the dry counties affected, suggested that TVA-area legislators wanted the money to created their own private "slush funds."

Rep. Bill Dukes, D-Decatur, and chairman of the committee said he resented the accusation. "When somebody accuses me of creating a slush fund, I had to speak up."

The bill could come up for a vote in the full House this week. State Rep. Marc Keahey of Grove Hill said he believes there are enough votes to keep it from becoming law. He said Clarke and other dry counties would be hard pressed to find revenue to replace the TVA money if it is taken away.

In this area, Clarke, Monroe and Washington counties are dry and would be adversely impacted. The fact that Jackson and Monroeville have laws allowing alcohol sales within their municipalities does not affect their counties' dry status because the county does not get any of the municipalities' alcohol sales revenues.

EMA report EMA Director Roy Waite named three Youth Preparedness Delegates who will represent the county at the Be Ready Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville on Sept. 11-15.

They are Shannon Merida from Wilson Hall Middle School; Will Neugent from Jackson Intermediate School; and Luke Horton from Clarke Prep School. The alternates are Julia Ann Jacobs and Shamonica Kidd.

Commissioners were reminded by Waite about an email he sent asking commissioners to list any flood areas in their districts so that these places could be identified by the National Weather Service when flooding situations occur.

Waite reported his part in a mock crisis situation held in Monroe County recently. He said plans are being made to have a similar exercise in Clarke County. The drill dealt with school shootings and hostage situations.

Commissioners authorized an ad in an upcoming Hurricane Preparedness Issue that will be in all three county newspapers. Waite lauded the success of last year's issue.

Commissioner Patricia DuBose was not present for Monday's meeting.

Jim Cox contributed to this report.

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