Court cost increase, lodging tax supported by commission
Legislation to increase court costs to help support local schools and operation of the county jail and legislation to impose a lodging tax in Coffee County will be supported unanimously, county commissioners agreed Monday.
Commissioners voted unanimously to support the two bills that will be sponsored by state Rep. Terry Spicer in the Alabama Legislature’s next session.
The court cost bill will provide for assessment and collection of $20 additional court cost in all criminal and civil cases including juvenile and traffic courts and municipal courts in Coffee County. Civil cases, including child support and domestic relations cases,will also be assessed the $20 increase.
According to Spicer’s bill, $18 of the $20 increase will be distributed to the Coffee County General Fund for operation of the Coffee County Jail in New Brockton. Two dollars will be distributed in equal portions to the Coffee County Board of Education, the Elba City Board of Education and the Enterprise City Board of Education to be used to fund school resource officers and for school security needs, according to the bill.
There is no lodging tax in Coffee County and a second bill to be introduced by Spicer will impose a county lodging tax which applies to any hotel or motel. The proposed tax, if passed, will be 6 percent of the cost of the room or rooms, according to the bill. This tax, according to the bill, “shall not apply to rooms, lodgings or accommodations supplied for a period of 30 continuous days or more in any place.”
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Reader Reactions
their should be no tax increases
So that makes it right? I want to support County Schools. I just don’t think Enterprise Schools should be given less just because our legislator looks our for his self-interests.
And your argument is ridiculous. If they increased medical costs and allocated the money to something you didn’t believe in, would your argument be the same? “Don’t go to the doctor!?!“
You’re the reason people like this man get reelected. Until people can see through men’s lies and see the man they truly are, our country and communities will never change or improve.
My next guess is that you’re also a Gilley supporter.
If you stay out of court you will not be reqired to support any county school, good enough?
This is just another example of Terry Spicer being Terry Spicer. I hope Dr. Reese has raised issue with this tax. It is just like Spicer to create legislation for Elba. It doesn’t hurt that he’s now in charge of their school system. Elba City Schools is one of the 2 or 3 smallest school systems in the state. It should NOT be a school system and should be joined with Coffee County. Enterprise is one of the bigger school systems in the state and Enterprise High School is in the top 10 in student population.
My concern is that the $2 is split evenly between the 3 systems. The money should be split according to the number of students in the system. In the bill presented by Spicer, on a student population ratio, Elba would receive $1 to every 3-5 cents that Enterprise received. This is just one more example of the great people of Coffee County being misled by a dirty man with not core beliefs.
Ask his wife if she’d trust him.
And he expects us to trust him.
I know I’m probably not the only one thinking this, but out of this $20 increase, why is $18 going to fund the county jail? I understand they need to pay the jailers salaries, and jail upkeep costs, and I don’t have a problem with that, but why are we about to suck up a $20 increase when only $2 of that will go to the schools that educate our kids and are facing more and more proration, and $18 is going to the upkeep of CRIMINALS??? Why don’t they switch those values around and give the $18 to the schools for the children who abide the laws, and let the jail have the $2 for the upkeep of the lawbreakers? They’ll be able to pay for a kitchen in New Brockton Elementary so our kids can have fresh hot meals (which the criminals already get!!) and the crooks and creeps in the jail can make due with reheated hamburger helper and ramen noodles. Sounds like a better plan to me, but then again, I care more about the comfort and welfare of my kids than I do about a crook.
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