Opinion

City of Prattville v. Joyner

  • 698 So. 2d 122
  • 1997 Ala. LEXIS 168
  • 1997 WL 330734
Court
Supreme Court of Alabama
Filed
Jun 13, 1997
Status
Published
Author
Houston
On the bench
Houston, Maddox
Cited by
7 cases
Authority
More cited than 15.2%

The opinion

If a municipality collects taxes from the businesses within its police jurisdiction, that municipality must provide within the police jurisdiction services that cost the municipality the amount of the tax collected there. Holt Civic Club v. City of Tuscaloosa , 439 U.S. 60 , 99 S.Ct. 383 , 58 L.Ed.2d 292 (1978). I referred to this as a duty in the majority opinion in State Department of Revenue v. Reynolds Metals Co. , 541 So.2d 524

(Ala. 1988), where I was primarily expressing how a municipality's obligation to provide such services could be fulfilled. 541 So.2d at 531 . If a municipality is providing within the police jurisdiction services the cost of which exceeds the amount of taxes collected there, then I believe the municipality has the right to curtail those services that the governing body of the municipality in its reasonable discretion elects to curtail. Using our customary standard of review, I was not persuaded from the facts in the record in City of Prattville v. Joyner , 661 So.2d 1158 (Ala. 1995) ( Joyner I ), that Prattville was providing services costing more than the taxes collected from the police jurisdiction. Certainly, a full hearing is necessary to determine the costs of the services it is providing. I am now persuaded by additional briefs and oral argument that Joyner I was wrongly decided.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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