524 police officers for 205,764 citizens in jurisdiction. one for every 392 (For sake of facts)

I tried explaining this to all the Democrats I work with,they didn't think it would apply to them only the evil mostly white people that have to travel from outside the city. they were pretty shocked to find out they would be paying it also. I still don't see how it is legal to impose a tax on someone through a city council that the people affected by it were not able to vote for the representatives who pushed it through. they also didnt think 1% was a very large number until i broke it down to what their salary is and they realized that it equals 2 or 3 months of car payments. I also don't like the way they held the public Council meetings during the day around 1 and 2 on work days when people affected could not possibly attend to protest without taking time off work. On the plus side maybe it will be a boost to Wetumpka and Prattville plenty of space to develop there. I can promise you Montgomery Alabama will not be receiving $0.01 of sales tax from me for as long as I live

The City of Selma tried this one time by getting the citizens to go along with a 1 cent sales tax increase by earmarking it for Public Safety. It passed and, I swear, before it could make it to Public Safety, the Council had to reallocate it for some '"emergency". This was before I retired and now that earmarked money has been shifted into the General Fund for the council to spend as they please. The Police and Firemen did finally get a 3% raise or something like that. Far from what the 1 cent tax hike brings in.

Same thing will happen in Montgomery if they say it is earmarked for police and fire. That is just a way to make the public like it. It will make the police officer and firemen feel like they were pimped out in the end.

At one time I was paying, Auburn,Opelika and Tuskegee occupation taxes.

And yes I'm disappointed that Gator brought this tax up. Unfortunately, it won't go to the police or firemen.

Sure does seem like it to me...

I had 14 years with Alexander City Fire/EMS. Through an agreement with the local medical center, we would send an ambulance to stand by for rapid patient transport from the cardiac cath lab if needed. The money was supposed to be earmarked for Fire/EMS personnel salaries, but city put it in the general fund saying it was illegal to earmark it. The intention of the new tax might be to help public safety employee but it might not happen.

Alexander City was in a similar situation with employees getting trained and then leaving for better paying departments. Not sure what they pay now but it sucked when I exited. I had topped out on the pay scale and could START at Hoover fire making 12K more. I changed careers and started out making 15K more per year. That was almost 18 years ago now. I still miss the big red trucks.......... LOL.

David

It's interesting that Huntsville doesn't have an occupational tax that i'm aware of and it's the most successful city in the state currently. Seems like other cities would want to copy what Huntsville is doing that is working. We can't go a day around here without some new company announcing a 50-300 job investment. They definitely wouldn't be doing that with occupational taxes in place that's for sure.

Check the demographic break down, mean income level, and mean educational level of Huntsville and compare them to Montgomery. The solution to every one of Montgomery's problems is right there in those 3 figures.

Dr. B

Nailed it

I don't think they can impose this tax on State employees and I know that they cannot impose it on Federal employees or the military.

yep

Glenn Pruitt is a turncoat and he has been in office too long.
So long that he forgot what got him elected in the first place.
And the power went to his head.
I am certain that the new mayor put him up to sponsoring the ordinance
and he should have told the mayor to go to hades.

Those numbers couldn’t be any further from reality. Nowhere near that number of officers. Do the same for firemen and it’s wrong as well. Each department loses about 75-100 a year on average. Department personnel and actual firefighters or police officers are not the same. Also, citizens numbers are far less than what occupies Montgomery on a daily basis. Firemen and police bring home less money now than 5-8 years ago. Don’t get these guys some money or help then it’s going to be a nightmare more so than it is.

I can say when I worked for Montgomery Fire Dept. Emory would stomp, cuss, and chew you out but he let NO one else mess with you and you had the best equipment available. The pay still sucked but you honestly felt he was on your side.

It is a state law that all money coming in to a city must go into the General Fund. The only exception to this that I know of is a city's Drug Fund of confiscated monies. There may be others but I've never dealt with them.

That being said, any city can earmark money for certain items but it just has to be done through their General Fund. That is what makes it so easy for them to say they are going to earmark for something the public is in favor of and then spend the money elsewhere. There is nothing, except their word and we all know what that is worth, that binds them to spend it how the public wants it spent.

Good lord , them trash trucks have ruined that road.

Now all the fuel trucks use it, logging trucks too. They are also opening a gravel pit so add gravel trucks to the list.

Y'all need to time your routes. Seems I remember it being same time going up to bypass at Alabama Steel. Turn rt on bypass. Go to traffic light past Dollar General. Turn rt. A little farther but just as fast....and smoother.

Oh I go up to the Western Blvd myself...doesn't mean Hunter Loop doesn't need to be fixed though.

Pruitt still hasn’t picked up all of his campaign signs from the last election like the one on Ray Thorington Road. Guess he’s waiting on the city to do that from him since he’s in the political class. I remember when he was a bank teller.