On June 23, 2009, the Alabama Supreme Court entered an Order telling the Jefferson County Commission what steps it needed to take to get access to the occupational tax money being held in escrow.  With the passage of the new occupational tax, the question remains – why hasn’t the County taken these steps and put their furloughed employees back to work?

The Court made it clear – if the County could offer security for the judgment on appeal, through a bond or some other mechanism, they could have access to the escrowed funds.  Now, with a new tax source in place, the County still has not taken action to secure the judgment.  Instead, as reported today in the Birmingham News, the County has taken the position that they cannot put workers back to work until the Alabama Supreme Court rules on the appeal.  Clearly, that is not the case.  Why the County Commission chooses to keep its workers furloughed is perplexing – maybe they like to have a crisis…