Birmingham Blues

…to ask first?  The Jefferson County Commission voted last week to include a non-binding referendum on the November ballot asking for public input on solutions to the sewer debt crisis.  Now it appears the county may not have the authority to include the referendum and spend the additional $110,000 needed for ballots.  Probate Judge Alan King has asked AG Troy King’s (no relation) office to issue an opinion by September 5.

In a January 1999 opinion to state Rep. Arthur Payne, R-Trussville, then-Attorney General Bill Pryor’s chief of the opinions division wrote that, “absent specific legislative authority, a county does not have the authority to include an advisory referendum on the ballot…”

…In 2006, a lawyer for the city of Saraland asked the attorney general’s office if the Mobile County Probate Court could include an advisory referendum in a June 2006 primary election ballot.

The opinion issued by Troy King’s office said, “This office has consistently stated that a city is not authorized to spend funds to conduct an advisory referendum, but a referendum could be held if there is no cost to the city.” It also said, “This line of opinions has been extended to the county” and concluded that the probate judge didn’t have the “authority to include an advisory referendum” on the ballot.

According to the Birmingham News report, AG’s opinions don’t carry the force of law, but if King rules against JeffCo and the commission goes ahead with the referendum, I can almost guarantee there will be lawsuits.  Lawsuits the county can’t afford right now.  Oh well, I guess we can just roll the cost into the face amount of the next bond issue.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 8:07 am and is filed under Local Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.