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Economy
Ala. county prepares for government shutdown
2009-08-02
As a government shutdown loomed, residents of Alabama's most populous county lined up Friday to renew their car registrations and settle their tax bills.

By Monday, at least a quarter of the county's 3,600 employees will be on unpaid leave and many county offices will be closed or cutting back hours.

The county, with 640,000 residents, has been on the brink of filing the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy for the past year due to a sewer bond fiasco that remains unresolved. Then things got worse: A judge ruled the county's occupational tax is illegal and courts refused to let the county spend the revenue from it while officials appeal.
Posted by:Fred

#3  Welcome to Birmingham and the New South!
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-08-02 21:20  

#2  Jefferson County is heavily Democrat with a 65% "minority" population. I was an Architet working on city projects back in 1983/84 and the ammount of corruption was amazing. Kickbacks to government officials from contractors was expected. The "stimulus" money handed out was also amazing and way ahead of it's time. I am very not surprised. The occupation tax, the tax the city and county put on anyone working in the either, was a very sore spot.The vehicle tax was also large. One had to pay a yearly City and County taz on any vehicle whic made driving a 1974 Dodge bare-bones van expensive. 150 bucks in 1984. Business taxes were sky-rocketing even back then and many large business moved out of the County. They did it to themselves.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2009-08-02 11:44  

#1  While the article mentions that the President of the County Commission is attending the RNC meeting there is no mention of the makeup of the rest of the Commission in the County and who was in charge while all these problems were created. I have my suspicions.
Posted by: tipover   2009-08-02 11:27  

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