Problems and Issues Facing Monroe County Government in Today's World

The  Federal  Civil Rights Laws  provided Alabama counties with greatly expanded service delivery authority and responsibilities.  They opened the door for counties to  provide urban-type services in developing areas. However, despite the gains made under the  legislation, Monroe County still faces numerous problems and issues. Number one being, less and less Federal and State mandated funds.  In essence, less TAXES or in the new politically correct "elitist/statist speak" revenue streams.  Local Governments will be faced with a growing myriad of problems and unless we plan ahead we will be in serious financial trouble like the rest of the country.
Double or Dual Taxation
An issue that has existed between city and county governments for a long time is double or dual taxation. Some city officials feel that their residents are taxed twice when services are provided by the county in the unincorporated areas and are either provided at a lower level or not at all inside city boundaries. A frequent example cited is law enforcement  since most cities have a police department and all counties have a sheriff. The argument is that city residents pay both city and  county taxes but may not receive all county services. Some cities and counties some have addressed the issue by reducing the county tax millage in city areas that feature duplicate service.
Fiscal responsibility for state mandated services and functions over which the county has no direct control
The key issue here is the inability of our County Government to exercise local financial control over such programs. Monroe County receives little or no reimbursement for providing such state-mandated services as tax assessment, maintenance of land records, and conducting elections,etc., etc.
 Inability of the property tax to meet service demands
As a major revenue source for counties, the property tax has not been responsive to increased service demands. The property tax was designed two centuries ago as a revenue source to meet the needs of a rural economy, not a rapidly urbanizing state. It is criticized today for taxing unrealized capital gains on property (i.e., the increased value of one's home in this case), and for being unfair since the tax may have no relationship to a tax payer's ability-to-pay taxes. Watch closely as your elected officials will seek to raise them to offset loss of revenue in other areas.
Urbanization
Monroe County's governmental services have been urbanizing at a fast pace.  Although Urbanization has been  slow and population has declined. With the advent of technology and education, services have been urbanized to a certain extent. Urbanization promises to be a major issue in future years, as our developing rural areas demand more and more urban-type services.
Challenge of government modernization
 With the exception Of  Monroeville, the County Seat, Monroe County is overwhelmingly rural in character.  Our County Government must deal with several overriding issues that impact all local governments such as inflation, federal spending decisions, and state-mandated services. County government modernization is one way to address such generic concerns. Modernization trends already in evidence across the nation and in Alabama include:

• performing city or urban-type services and not just state-mandated services
• utilizing some version of council-elected executive or council-administrator form of government rather that relying on forms of government that depend upon legislators to act as executives also.
• gaining legal authority from local county charters rather than relying on state law and the state legislature.
• relying more on intergovernmental cooperation (city-county, local-state cooperation).
  
  
   Need for fiscal home rule and alternative revenue source
  Monroe County has  a great deal of discretionary service authority under the Local Government Law. However, what many county officials feel is needed now is the fiscal authority to raise money locally to support expanded services. Currently, counties cannot impose any new taxes or establish any new revenue sources. They may only increase or reduce existing taxes and use existing revenue sources. As federal revenues are reduced, and state funds also , local governments are being forced to rely more and more on their own resources. Hence, the reduction of intergovernmental aid is adding to the pressures which result in a call for more local discretion.
  
  Planning for growth and development in rural areas
  We in Monroe County have some  unique planning problems and concerns,  which many urban oriented planning Communities do not.. Monroe County is rural area and must plan for stagnant population growth and economic development. Our County will grow very slowly and our  rural areas are actually losing population and jobs.  Our County government must learn how to govern facing a declining revenue base while at the same time facing critical human service needs among  our rural citizens.

Decaying County Insfrastructure
County roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, parks, and so on, are all part of the county's decaying infrastructure. A 1983 study by Auburn University indicated that Alabama would need to spend over $17 billion between 1980 and the year 2000 to replace the state's streets, highways, bridges, airports, water systems and sewer systems. I don't think Alabama has met it's goal.  I'm sure that Monroe County will have to downsize it's entire Governmental  Structure in the near future,to just meet it's most basic needs.

County correction system overcrowding
Although our  county jail and prison facilities are  not grossly overcrowded now, I believe that with the state of our current economic situation,  things will only worsen and our facilities will be stretched to the max.  The County jail is a facility with a small number of cells. Such facilities were not designed to house the number of prisoners currently held there and were never intended to be the long-term penal facility that it will become.  We are housing Federal prisoners as a revenue stream for our Corrections Department now, which I think will eventually bite us in the butt in the Long-run.