LAUDERDALE COUNTY – The Lauderdale County Republican Executive Committee recently passed a Resolution regarding its opposition to the proposed Agricultural Center in Lauderdale County. This resolution has been given to the Ag Committee:
Resolution on Proposed Agricultural Center in Lauderdale County, Alabama
WHEREAS, $45 million has been proposed for an Agricultural Center in Lauderdale County, Alabama; and
WHEREAS, a 40-year bond issue of up to $46 million has been authorized by the Agricultural Authority Board; and
WHEREAS, the establishment of the Agricultural Authority Board to oversee the construction and operation of the Agricultural Center was passed without adequate input from the public; and
WHEREAS, $1.2 million in annual in-lieu-of tax dollars allocated to seven cities and in
Lauderdale County, the Lauderdale County Board of Education, the Florence City Board of Education, and the Lauderdale County Commission has been appropriated and redirected to the Agricultural Authority; and
WHEREAS, the two cent gasoline tax, which was promised to expire when the RTJ Golf Trail bond issue was paid off, was extended for Lauderdale County and directed to the Agricultural Authority without consent of the taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, the bill to extend the two cent gasoline tax had to be rewritten to extend the tax only to Lauderdale County and exempt Colbert County before the bill could be introduced; and
WHEREAS, no feasibility study for the project has been completed; and
WHEREAS, the Alabama Republican Party Platform specifically states “We support lower tax models that adequately fund government without undue waste or programs better facilitated by the private sector”; and
WHEREAS, the Agricultural Center as proposed is antithetical to the fiscally conservative principles of the Republican Party of Lauderdale County, Alabama;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Lauderdale County Republican Party Executive Committee does not endorse nor does it support the existing proposal to create an Agricultural Center in Lauderdale County, Alabama.
Joshua Dodd, Chairman
Media Release/Josh Dodd/Lauderdale County Republican Executive Committee
