Author: Virginia Martin
Angene Coleman
John Hilliard
Wendell Major
These Little Warrants Went to Market
Aug. 8, 2017 – Jefferson County Commissioners were told at their committee meeting Tuesday that they’ll need to wear their best “Sunday go to meeting” attire Aug. 31 as they pose for a picture commemorating the recent sale of warrants for school systems in the county.
“It was a very successful warrant issue,” Commission President Jimmie Stephens said after the meeting. “We actually had orders for $1.7 billion worth of warrants, of which there were only $338 million to sell. It drove the interest rate down, which benefits the citizens of Jefferson County, puts more money in our coffers to be able to utilize for the citizens of Jefferson County.”
Stephens said the county continues to advance from its dark days of bankruptcy.
“We’re more proactive in what we’re doing,” he said. “We have the resources in place now – whether they be human resources or whether they be capital resources – in order to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Jefferson County.” Read more.
Funding for Titusville Day Event Raises Questions at Birmingham Council Meeting
Aug. 8, 2017 — Tuesday’s mostly placid meeting of the Birmingham City Council was marked by questions over funding for community events in District 6. A resolution appropriating $10,000 for the 33rd Annual Titusville Day — a gathering organized by Councilor Sheila Tyson that took place Aug. 5, — appeared on Tuesday’s agenda.
Councilor Valerie Abbott expressed concern that money was being spent on the Titusville Day item despite lack of an approved FY 2018 budget. Council President Johnathan Austin responded that the council was spending based on the previous fiscal year’s budget until the new one passed.
Council President Pro Tem Steven Hoyt added that approval of expenditures before a budget was passed “just depends on who it is and what it is,” drawing chuckles from the dais.
“I got it now,” Abbott laughed. “At least you spoke truth to power, as you’re always saying.”
Despite questions about whether the item had been approved by the city’s law department, which it hadn’t, the item passed. Read more.
