Shelby County sees revenue increase for 2019

At the May 28 Shelby County Commission meeting, Shelby County CFO Cheryl Naugher presented her 6-month financial review.

“Everything tracking along as we had hoped,” Naugher said.

The county’s unemployment rate is at 2.4% and property tax and sales tax revenues are up. Revenues from mortgages, building permits and probate fees were all down compared to 2018.

From this point in the 2019 fiscal year compared to the same time last fiscal year, the county has brought in $1.47 million more, which includes $564,609 more in property tax revenue and $487,773 more in sales tax.

Heardmont Park will soon be a little brighter. A resolution was passed at the commission meeting to award a bid to Titan Electric, Inc. for $208,015 for the Heardmont Park lighting and safety project. The cost will be split three ways and County Manager Alex Dudchock called it a win-win. The new lighting will be for existing fields, batting cages and concession areas.

Shelby County is one of three counties that have been asked by the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA) to analyze pending prison reform legislation from the state Legislature and how it applies and affects Shelby County. The bills related to the topic are House Bill 612 and Senate Bill 382.

“We were also asked to determine by data how it would effect the county in prison population, community corrections and the release of individuals,” Commissioner Lindsey Allison said at the meeting. “The state is changing sentencing and criminals are not getting punished as harshly.”

The bills would change statutes and downgrade certain felonies to misdemeanors, including some theft and drug offenses. The bill also revises down penalties for violating the Alabama Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act and would repeal the state’s habitual felony offender laws, giving opportunities for parole in some circumstances.

Allison said they are taking money out of mental health budgets and not giving any back to the communities.

“They’ve been sued by the justice department because of the overcrowding,” Allison said. “The solution in the bill is to find more ways to keep prisoners at a local level without providing us with any funding.”

Allison said the county’s correctional program is still busting at the seams and the commission will fight for quality of life for Shelby County residents.

“If the state doesn’t keep dangerous people in our jails or monitor them, guess what happens? Our quality of life goes down. Of all the issues we are dealing with, I think this is one of our most difficult ones in the next couple of years,” she said.

Sheriff John Samaniego added that as the population of Shelby County increases, incarceration increases.

Dudchock lauded alternative programs for helping handle some of the inmates in the county system.

“The men and women working there are doing an outstanding job, but more of the responsibility is being pushed down to the counties by the state without any funding,” he said.

At the end of the regular meeting, the commission entered into an executive session to discuss land/contract negotiations (purchase of property).

The next county commission meeting will be held Monday, June 10 at 8:30 a.m. at the County Services Building in Columbiana.