By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
At Tuesday’s Prattville City Council meeting, a strenuous and confusing set of circumstances transpired that ultimately pushed back the one-cent sales tax decision until the July 6 meeting.
Two ordinances were present on the agenda, both of which would extend the sales tax. The first called for 100 percent of each month’s collections to be deposited into a general reserve bank account. The levy is anticipated to raise approximately $7 Million annually.
The second ordinance intended for 10 percent of each month’s collections to go into a general fund reserve. Once the provisions of the City’s General Fund Reserve Policy were satisfied, that 10 percent would be deposited into an Economic Development Reserves bank account. Funds would then be expended only on economic development projects approved by the City Council of the City of Prattville.
The remaining 90 percent of each month’s collections of the one-percent sales tax would go into the following:
- 50 percent would be deposited into an Education Reserves bank account and used only for education-related expenses within the corporate limits of the City of Prattville.
- 25 percent would be deposited into a Parks and Recreation Reserves bank account and used only for Parks and Recreation facilities within the corporate limits of the City of Prattville.
- 25 percent would be deposited into an Infrastructure Reserves bank account and used only for infrastructure-related expenses within the corporate limits of the City of Prattville.
District 1 Councilman Albert Striplin was the sole vote against suspending council rules for both ordinances, pushing the decision back to July 6. During that time, the council will continue to deliberate and make any necessary amendments to the two ordinances. When the Council wishes to suspend the rules, the vote must be unanimous.
“We have spent a lot of time with you, the public. We have spent a lot of time preparing for this, and I feel like it was time to move forward with it. I am disappointed, and we were really hoping to see this come into fruition tonight before the July 1 date. We’ve been talking about this for at least a year and knew this was coming,” said District 7 Council President Pro Tempore Lora Lee Boone.
As stated earlier, a vote was not taken on the actual ordinances at Tuesday’s meeting, but they will be back before the council at the next regular meeting.
The City of Prattville also approved their new Economic Development Director, Joshua S. Johnson. Mayor Bill Gillespie withheld comment for the new hiring and Johnson was not present at the meeting. Gillespie said the city is working on an introductory release concerning Johnson which will be released to media soon.
What is known about Josh Johnson is that he was named the Economic Development Director for the City of Madison in September of last year. According to an article at that time in the Madison Record, Johnson’s career began with interning with the City Manager and City Planner of Mountain Brook. The article goes on to say that after college, Johnson worked as a Transportation Planner for Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority, Planner for Shelby County and Senior Planner for Birmingham. Prior to being named Economic Development Developer in Madison nine months ago, his previous job was Director of Planning and Development for the transit authority.
Johnson served for six years in the United States Marine Corps.
He earned a bachelor’s degree at the university of North Alabama and a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. At the time of the article referenced, he held a professional certificate in Geographic Information Systems from Michigan State University.
