By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — The Trussville City Council believes it’s a slippery slope.
The city council last Thursday approved a resolution opposing House Bill 185, which would restrict “municipal authority to license home health businesses to those with a headquarters or branch office physically located within the City of Trussville.”
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ron Johnson, of Sylacauga.
The approved resolution states that businesses that provide goods or services in Trussville, whether they have a physical location in the city or not, take advantage of the financial and other benefits they receive from the city, including the use of streets and roads, the potential use of police and fire protection, and the potential use of city ambulances or rescue services.
Revenue collected from business licensing provides a financial means for defraying the costs of providing essential services by licensing businesses in appropriate circumstances, the resolution states.
The resolution further states that monies collected from business licensing are used not only for revenue purposes, but to protect citizens by allowing municipalities to verify that home health companies providing services inside the city are in compliance with necessary laws and regulations.
The resolution states that “carving out this type of business from the coverage of municipal business licensing creates fundamental unfairness to other businesses and is a slippery slope as other businesses and industries start to request similar legislative limitations on municipal license authority which could potentially cost the municipality a significant loss in revenue thereby resulting in a potential for devastating effects on the quality of life of our citizens.”
Trussville City Clerk Lynn Porter said doing away with business license fees for home health care would produce a projected $10,000 impact to the city’s general fund. She said the Alabama Legislature takes up bills on the possible removal of certain business license fees every session.
“It’s just snowballing,” she said.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.