Alabama § 45-37-249.10 - Jefferson County Community Service Committee; Jefferson County Community Service Fund.

§ 45-37-249.10. Jefferson County Community Service Committee; Jefferson County Community Service Fund.

(a) There is hereby created the Jefferson County Community Service Committee. The committee shall consist of four members, one of whom shall be elected by each of the Jefferson County Democratic House Delegation, the Jefferson County Republican House Delegation, the Jefferson County Democratic Senate Delegation, and the Jefferson County Republican Senate Delegation. Members of the Jefferson County Legislative Delegation shall not be eligible for election to the committee. Members of the committee shall be elected at a meeting of the Jefferson County Legislative Delegation held in the first year of each quadrennium of the Legislature and shall be residents and qualified electors of the county. The committee shall establish rules and procedures for its proceedings and activities.

(b) There is hereby created a public fund to be designated the Jefferson County Community Service Fund. The committee shall be the custodian of, and shall be responsible for the proper expenditure of, the Jefferson County Community Service Fund.

(c) Funds on deposit in the Jefferson County Community Service Fund shall be used solely for one or more of the following purposes in the county, provided that any use of such funds must serve a public purpose:

(1) To support public schools, public roads, public museums, public libraries, public zoos, public parks, neighborhood associations, public athletic facilities, public youth sports associations, public sidewalks, public trails, or public greenways.

(2) To support the performing arts.

(3) To support nonprofit entities that, at the time a recommendation for expenditure is filed with the committee, have received funding from the United Way of Central Alabama within the last 12 months and are not excluded from receiving additional United Way funding.

(4) To support police departments, the county’s sheriff’s office, or fire departments or districts in the county.

(5) To support publicly available assistance programs established for the benefit of low income residential customers of the county’s public sanitary sewer system.

(d) Subject to the provisions of this part, the amount deposited in the Jefferson County Community Service Fund shall be allocated equally between the Jefferson County House Delegation and the Jefferson County Senate Delegation. The amounts so allocated shall be further allocated equally among the members of the House Delegation and the Senate Delegation. From the amounts so allocated to them, the members of the House and Senate Delegations may recommend one or more expenditures from the Jefferson County Community Service Fund for purposes described in subsection (c). Such expenditures shall be made from revenues derived from the taxes authorized herein for the prior fiscal year of the county and deposited in the Jefferson County Community Service Fund.

(e) The committee shall consider and approve or deny each recommended expenditure pursuant to its rules for review and approval of disbursements from the Jefferson County Community Service Fund.

(f) Any amounts derived from the taxes authorized herein during the prior fiscal year of the county remaining on deposit in the Jefferson County Community Service Fund on September 30 of any year shall be paid over to the county for deposit into the general fund.