Jefferson County

[kayman]

After the prolong and peculiar situation that is occurring here in the Birmingham area particularly Jefferson County. What do you guys think should happen with the Jefferson County Sewer System which is essentially putting the County into the massive debt. Should they sell it to the Retirement Systems of Alabama and file for bankruptcy, or try one more time to find a way to pay back the creditors via higher property, sales taxes along with a strict allocation of the occupation tax funds towards payments?

[TRoberts]

After the prolong and peculiar situation that is occurring here in the Birmingham area particularly Jefferson County. What do you guys think should happen with the Jefferson County Sewer System which is essentially putting the County into the massive debt. Should they sell it to the Retirement Systems of Alabama and file for bankruptcy, or try one more time to find a way to pay back the creditors via higher property, sales taxes along with a strict allocation of the occupation tax funds towards payments?

[kayman]

Well, to give an update on this story. The Jeffco Commission President Bettye Fine Collins has proposed eliminating the Zoning, Planning, and Inspection divisions of the County altogether if the occupational tax isn't reinstated. All of these can have catastrophic effects on the developmental patterns of the County because without adequate zoning, there would anything to be built anywhere similar to other counties without zoning.