It’s no secret Elmore County is growing.
Since 1995 the population has almost doubled, growing from 55,000 to more than 90,000. And it continues to grow.
Rooftops are going in all over as more than 700 are planned in the Redland community in the next few years. More than 300 are planned in Wetumpka. Eclectic has new neighborhoods going in as well. The growth will likely bring more retail businesses and restaurants. They all need police and fire protection. In the last year the Alabama legislature approved two new circuit court judges to help accommodate the growing number of court cases in Elmore County. Other districts across the state saw zero or one new judge. The current Elmore County Jail was built in the 1990s to house 242 inmates. Currently the population is routinely more than 300. The current jail offers no way to renovate the current facility in an affordable manner.
Cliff Williams / TPI The downtown Tallassee water tower renovation was one of the projects the Elmore County helped fund with $400,000 in COVID-19 funding. The commission wants to continue similar projects to help growth with Enhance Elmore.
Elmore County leaders also want to expand broadband access in Elmore County as well as workforce development in an effort to attract more business and industry to the area.
Rebuild Alabama has helped improve some of Elmore County’s more than 1,000 miles of county roads but more needs to be done.
County leaders have introduced Enhance Elmore County as a way to increase services such as fire protection, build a new jail and provide for other services.
“A lot of things that we've done, probably in the last six years or so, have been a reaction to growth,” Elmore County Commission chair Bart Mercer said. “We redirected a lot of money to different areas of the county where we feel like it needed to be spent to provide the best services to our citizens.”
Some of those funds came from Rebuild Alabama with strings attached to them. Other funds came from COVID-19 relief funding. It allowed the extension of water lines in areas of Elmore County, the refurbishment of the downtown Tallassee water tower and the extension of sewer lines from Elmore and Millbrook to take advantage of excess sewage treatment capacity at the Wetumpka Water Works. It is a project that might make sewer an available utility in the future in parts of the Holtville community.
The growth in the number of inmates has forced the county to have conversations with municipalities.
“We actually had to be a part of phone calls to say, ‘Mayors, we need your help to clean some people out,’” Mercer said. “We can't have this many people in our jails.”
County officials fear overpopulation in the county jail will bring the federal courts dictating the county on how to react, so officials are trying to be proactive. A new jail and renovations to the current judicial complex are estimated to cost $102.6 million. It would accommodate a growing inmate population allowing more than 400 inmates to be housed and the ability to grow to house 600. It provides new court rooms by building a new jail and circuit clerk’s office in the current parking areas of the complex. The current judicial building would be renovated as well. Parking would expand thanks to an adjacent 11-acre property purchase last year.
Growth also has presented other challenges.
“It has put stress on our public works department,” Mercer said. “We've got people living on roads now where they've never lived before. They're wanting us to cut those roads’ right of ways more often.”
The growth also means more needs for public safety with more law enforcement officers, more vehicles and better fire protection.
“If the current level of services is to be continued or improved upon, additional revenue will be needed,” Mercer said.
Enhance Elmore contains two types of funding. One requires action of the state legislature and then the commission. The other is voted in a public referendum.
“The county commission will be requesting the state legislature to grant the commission authorization to levy five measures through local legislation,” Mercer said. “We are requesting two measures be considered as local constitutional amendments by the voters of Elmore County.”
Leaders are plowing ahead to get legislation on the floor in Montgomery in the upcoming session starting next month. The local bills require advertising and deadlines met before the end of the legislative session of May 14. Missing this session means another year before county leaders can move ahead with Enhance Elmore.
If the five measures are approved in local legislation, the commission is proposing a countywide levelized sales tax of 9.5% across the county. This would include all parts of the county. In the case where the combined sales tax in municipalities is already a combined 9.5% or higher, there would be no new tax. If a municipality saw its combined sales tax deep below 9.5%, the commission would collect the balance up to 9.5%. There would be a levelized rental tax of 9.5% across the county as well. It would be implemented like the sales tax.
There would be a $25 assessment per year per vehicle and boat tag.
There would be an additional $100 court fee assessed for each court case and a $100 booking fee for arrests.
The local referendum would see voters enacting an assessment on property — $25 per year for each parcel of land only, $150 per year on residential parcels and $300 per year on commercial parcels. Voters would also decide on a 4.5% tax on tobacco and vapes.
“It has been 20 years since the fire departments have seen an increase in revenue from assessments on structures,” Mercer said. “Historically no assessment has been collected from land only parcels while at the same time our fire departments respond to grass and wildland fires often.”
The extra fees will also allow the commission to work on ambulance availability and response across the county for medical calls and for possible funding to grow other health services in the county.
The proposed fees also contain automatic growth. For instance, boat and vehicle tags would increase $1 each year.
It avoids a funding scenario the county finds itself in currently.
“When the current jail and judicial complex was built, it was done with a sales tax,” Elmore County chief operations officer Richie Beyer said. “That sales tax sunsetted when the bond for the complex was paid off.”
The funding mechanism left nothing for ongoing maintenance, HVAC replacement or a growing population.
Enhance Elmore doesn’t provide any additional funding for education. Any extra funding for education would come through appropriations in workforce development.
Mercer said new funding for new schools would have to come from the school systems first.
One-cent of sales tax is currently collected in Elmore County for education. Schools also receive a portion of the internet sales the county receives. Schools also collect 10-mils in property taxes as per state law with only 9-mils approved by Elmore County voters.
Mercer and Beyer expect questions to arise as to why the county supported projects such as 17 Springs and the other quality of life projects currently under way.
“Those projects were well into the planning stages and construction when the legislature approved two new judges for the circuit,” Beyer said. “Those projects are being funded through a levelized lodging tax assessed on rooms and stays in the county. They are paid by visitors.”
Beyer said those projects were necessary to continue to provide recreational opportunities for Elmore County residents.
Enhance Elmore contains an annual reporting mechanism to show where the funds were allocated and spent.
County leaders held a listening session on the program prior to Monday’s Elmore County Commission in hopes of educating the public on needs in the county. Without Enhance Elmore, county leaders believe efforts to keep up with growth will fail because the current property tax collections are not keeping up with increased costs.
“Elmore County collects the lowest property tax in the state and one of the lowest in the nation,” Mercer said. “Currently, general operating funds don’t have the capacity to fund large projects.”
