BRADENTON, Fla. - An Alabama group wants to explain why it is suing to stop new revenue from flowing to cash-strapped Jefferson County, which emerged from bankruptcy 19 months ago.
The Committee to Save Jefferson County scheduled a press conference for Thursday on the steps of the county courthouse in Birmingham to discuss why it filed a lawsuit in state court on July 20.
The suit alleges that House Bill 573 signed by Gov. Robert Bentley in June is unconstitutional.
On Wednesday, Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens said the lawsuit targets new revenue that the county needs to pay for capital projects and deferred maintenance.
"This lawsuit has been filed by some of the same people who appealed the county's bankruptcy plan and would like to see the county forced back into bankruptcy," he said.
The lawsuit challenges the validity of HB573, which would allow the county to refinance $595 million of 2004 and 2005 school warrants secured by a sales tax dedicated to public school projects and related debt. Excess sales tax revenue currently goes toward early redemption of the warrants.
A refinancing would allow the sales tax to continue paying school warrant debt service, though savings from the deal and excess revenue would go to the county's general fund and other purposes, such as the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority and the Birmingham Zoo.
The committee contends that the law was improperly passed by the Legislature.
Committee members include county tax assessor Andrew Bennett, state Reps. John Rogers and Mary Moore, and county resident William Muhammad, all of whom are named in the July 20 lawsuit.
Bennett, Rogers, Moore, and Muhammad are also among the plaintiffs appealing Jefferson County's December 2013 exit from Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
Stephens said the latest lawsuit attempts to invalidate an act of the Legislature that would provide needed funds for economic development, roads, and other infrastructure projects without increasing local taxes.
"We don't know the plaintiffs' real motivation, but we are confident the legislation is legally valid and that they will not succeed in their most recent lawsuit," he said.
The Committee to Save Jefferson County said in a press release Wednesday that instead of paying off the school warrants early through a refinancing, the county's plan would extend the final maturity of the school warrants to 2045 from 2027. That plan would raise $60 million a year by extending the end date of the current sales tax, the release said.
