County Commission | The Magazine March 2019 | Page 18

FROM THE COVER
Alabama Counties Support...
2019 ACCA Legislative Priorities
Providing county roads & bridges with their first long-range revenue increase since 1992
With county governments unable to levy their own gas tax for the care of county roads and bridges,
county leaders spent the better part of the previous quadrennium tirelessly advocating the Legislature
to enact a new revenue measure for state and local infrastructure programs. The costs associated with
the construction, maintenance, and repair of county roads and bridges continue to far exceed the resources available
to county governments. Alabama Counties will continue to work with the coalition of business leaders, the Alabama
Department of Transportation (ALDOT), and other interest groups in pursuing legislation to provide adequate
funding for state and local road and bridge projects by utilizing the current gas tax formula.
Updating the state’s online sales tax collection process to legally align with the U.S. Supreme
Court’s 2018 decision
With its 2018 decision on Wayfair v. South Dakota, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for
states to require tax collection from any online seller that “avails itself of the substantial privilege”
of doing business in that state. The Wayfair decision offers several factors for states to consider to
ensure their collection methods for online sellers are nondiscriminatory and do not place an undue burden on
interstate commerce. While the collection methodology endorsed by the Supreme Court models well with Alabama’s
Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT) program, there are still a number of statutory issues that must be considered to
guarantee compliance with the Wayfair decision. Alabama Counties, the Alabama Department of Revenue and other
SSUT stakeholders will continue their partnership during the 2019 session to further expand the SSUT program’s
ability to collect taxes from online sellers.
Reinstating “waiver valuations” to save counties time & money on right-of-way appraisals
ALDOT and county highway departments have traditionally utilized “waiver valuations” to acquire
rights-of-way from private landowners. This practice has permitted state and local governments
to reach a mutual agreement with private landowners about the purchase price for right-of-way
acquisitions. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently advised that Alabama state law does not
recognize the federal concept of waiver valuation. As a result, county road departments were directed to stop using
this established practice, which has saved counties time and money over the years. Alabama Counties propose to
amend the current statutory provisions governing right-of-way appraisals to be in compliance with Federal Code in
order to allow the reinstatement of waiver valuations.
Closing a statutory loophole in sheriffs’ feeding of county inmates
A long-standing ambiguity in state law has allowed county sheriffs to pocket certain surplus
monies allocated to their offices for the feeding of county inmates. The issue came to a head in
early 2018, leading Gov. Kay Ivey to issue a memorandum requiring sheriffs to deposit all monies
designated for “food services” into the county general fund or some other official account instead of accepting
those funds in a personal capacity. Even with the sweeping impact of the Governor’s memo, many state and local
leaders want to explore a permanent solution to this issue. Alabama Counties support legislation to close this
statutory loophole by instituting clear requirements and accountability measures for the handling of the sheriffs’
feeding funds.
18 | MARCH 2019