A Valentine for 2019

TVA sends the State of Alabama a sort of Valentine greeting on a regular basis. The money TVA pays the state is in lieu of property taxes, and the state then forwards 78% (in some cases more) of the payment to the counties and cities served by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Think a lot of money.

That payment is partially made to the county commission, which in turn doles out the funds either per law or on a basis of need. In the past, Lauderdale County has determined that one great need is education. Not exactly rocket science, is it?

In April 2017, Lynn Greer of Rogersville introduced a bill in the state legislature that would require Lauderdale County to pay the Agriculture Authority (Ag Center) 1.2 million dollars a year from the 5.6 million dollar annual payment. At that time, Greer stated the money would be taken "off the top" of the TVA payment to Lauderdale County. First things first and all that.

In case you think this was just a "county" thing, Greer's bill eliminated a $305,000. yearly payment to the City of Florence. At the time, the city accountant stated that it would have been nice if Greer had consulted anyone about his bill. Yes, wouldn't it have? As for Florence City Schools, the loss of this revenue amounted to $127,000. 

At the time the bill was passed, it was supported by Lynn Greer, Tim Melson, and Phillip Pettus. Larry Stutts opposed it. In answer to Stutts, Sen. Tim Melson stated concerning the benefits of the Ag Center: “People who worry about their own little world with their own budgets don’t see the windfall.” Ah, yes, we believe that's called Maslow's hierarchy of needs - something Sen. Melson should have learned about years ago, but perhaps only those with more education than a medical doctorate can understand that. (Hats off to those with a Masters of Law.)

Approximately 30 days after Greer introduced the bill to divert the TVA payments, the new legislation passed. In one vote in Montgomery, Lauderdale County schools and many other entities lost tens of thousands of dollars in funding. The City of Florence School System has redone its budget and is presumably still educating its students in a responsible manner. The Lauderdale County School System is headed toward financial ruin. Happy Valentine's Day...

A post script of sorts: 

1. We used the 78% state payment to county figure that we believe is correct. We will note that Robert Palmer of the TimesDaily has indicated that the remittance is only 50% of TVA payments. Perhaps the Lauderdale Luminary could weigh in on this?

2. We believe Sen. Tim Melson is an honorable man. We also believe he needs to think before he speaks. Before any readers ask if our writers are good examples of this, remember that we're not here to win any elections or popularity contests. We're here to inform the public. We can't wait until Lauderdale County begins to consolidate schools to hear the public ask why no one informed them.