What Is Tuscaloosa County’s Local Amendment 1, Appearing on November Ballots?
It's hard to go 15 minutes without a reminder of the US Presidential election now less than two weeks away, but voters in Tuscaloosa County will also be asked to weigh in on more than two dozen other races and a pair of constitutional amendments.
The other elections don't offer a lot of excitement - almost all see Republican incumbents or candidates running entirely uncontested. The entire four-member county commission and their commissioner, Probate Judge Rob Robertson, are expected to win re-election in races without challengers.
There's also a statewide amendment to the Constitution on the ballot which would affect land owned by the Franklin County School System and another which is only on ballots in Tuscaloosa County - Local Amendment 1.
That's what we're exploring here.
The text of the proposed amendment reads "Relating to Tuscaloosa County, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, to provide, effective for the school year commencing in August 2025, that territory subject to the jurisdiction and control of the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education would only include territory within the corporate limits of the City of Tuscaloosa, and territory outside of the corporate limits of the City of Tuscaloosa would be subject to the jurisdiction and control of the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education or any other city board of education outside of the corporate limits of the City of Tuscaloosa, if applicable."
That's about clear as mud to most laypeople, so the Thread reached out to Alabama Senator Gerald Allen, State Representative Ron Bolton, and Grady Bobo, a property owner affected by the issue, to get a clearer explanation of Local Amendment 1.
Bobo said he's a farmer and one of maybe 100 residents who live in a kind of taxation no man's land.
"As best anybody can figure, about 75 years ago, about 1947, there was a law passed in the Legislature that created this special tax district, maybe enacted to entice the rubber plant out here. It's just west of Tuscaloosa, between Sander's Ferry Road and the Black Warrior River," Bobo said. "It put everybody in this area zoned to go to city schools even though we're not in the city limits of Tuscaloosa."
He said a handful of affected students attend city schools, and property owners there pay the city's ad valorem property tax, which is higher than the rate they would pay to the Tuscaloosa County School System if the district did not exist.
The biggest issue for Bobo, though, is that he and his neighbors are not being allowed to vote on matters affecting either school system.
When residents of Tuscaloosa County voted against raising property taxes in February 2023, those inside the special tax district were told they could not cast ballots.
That's when Bobo started working with Senator Allen, Representative Bolton and others to try to get to the bottom of the issue. To add insult to injury, when the citizens of Tuscaloosa went to vote on their own property tax increase in September, Bobo and his neighbors weren't allowed to participate in that decision, either.
"The other day, the city had their referendum," he told the Thread. "And we're in city schools, we're paying the city tax, but we couldn't vote in that election, either. That's been the kicker all along. We pay these taxes. Not to be melodramatic, but the concept this country was founded on was resisting taxation without representation. That's where we are down here in No Man's Land."
The simplest answer would be for lawmakers to repeal the decades-old legislation that created the special tax district, but - frustratingly - Bobo said no one can seem to identify what legislative bill created this phantom zone.
So instead, Allen sponsored legislation in the Alabama Senate to get Local Amendment 1 on ballots next month, and Bolton helped do the same in the State House of Representatives.
"There is a section of west/southwest Tuscaloosa County that currently is taxed by the Tuscaloosa City Schools however these properties are located out in the County and not in the City Limits of Tuscaloosa," Representative Bolton explained.
"These citizens weren't allowed to vote for or against the tax in either of the recent property tax referendums, hence the term No Man's Land," Allen added.
Now Amendment 1 is on ballots in Tuscaloosa County for voters to consider. It would allow the residents of the special tax district to begin paying the lower countywide property tax but leave any existing students in city schools until they graduate so this change is not disruptive to real children with friends and teachers they want to stay with.
"Local Amendment 1 will correct this and the ad valorem rate for these residents will drop to the county rate, and those revenues will then go to the Tuscaloosa County School System," Bolton said. "Students who reside in this area and currently attend city schools will complete their schooling in the city schools while future students will attend county schools."
Bobo said this issue probably affects fewer than 100 households, but since the Legislature seems unable to repeal the bill that created the district, it requires this countywide vote to change. Now tens of thousands of people will see Local Amendment 1 as they help choose the next President.
He asked voters to learn about the amendment and cast educated votes, even if the change would not affect them.
"They need to weigh in because it's the right thing to do. In my point of view, if the government can put me in a place like this, at some point, any other voter could find themselves in the same spot," Bobo said. "It's just not right, and that's what has stuck in my craw for years."
Local Amendment 1 will be on ballots in Tuscaloosa County during the general election on Tuesday, November 5th. For results on that issue and other local races as they come in, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.
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