Coosa County Act No. 99-544

Relating to Coosa County; levying a tax on those persons, firms, and corporations severing and transporting sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof in the county; authorizing the county commission to impose and collect a certain mining fee on minerals; providing for the collection of the tax by the Department of Revenue; providing for enforcement and distribution of the proceeds of the tax; and to provide for the expiration of this act.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:

Section 1: When used in this act, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

(1) DEPARTMENT. The state Department of Revenue.

(2) EARTHEN MATERIALS. Materials covered in this bill which include sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof.

(3) PERSON. Any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, or any combination thereof.

(4) PRODUCER. Any person engaging in the business of severing sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof from the soil within Coosa County.

(5) PURCHASER. Any person acquiring title, outright or conditionally, to any interest in sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof.

(6) SEVERING. Mining, stripping, or otherwise taking or removing sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof from the soil within Coosa County.

(7) TON. A short ton of 2,000 pounds.

(8) TRANSPORTER. Any person transporting sand, clay, silt, loam, dirt, gravel, rock, sand-gravel, clay-gravel, sand-clay, or any combination thereof from the place where it is severed or from any other place to any other place, within or without Coosa County.

Section 2. (a) There is levied, in addition to all other taxes imposed by law, an excise and privilege tax on every person severing earthen materials within Coosa County. The tax shall be paid to the Department of Revenue at the rate of twenty-five cents ($.25) per ton by every producer who severs the product within Coosa County.

(b) In addition to the tax levied in subsection (a), the county commission may assess a mining fee as it deems necessary on producers who mine minerals other than earthen material from the soil in Coosa County. If the county commission does assess such a fee at a county commission meeting, it shall advertise the time, place, and purpose of such a commission meeting for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county prior to the meeting. The county commission may provide for collecting the fee.

Section 3. Every producer shall within 20 days after the end of each calendar month, whether or not the producer shall have severed or sold any earthen materials during that month, file with the Department of Revenue a report which shall set forth, in a form prescribed by the department, the amount of the products in tons, if any, severed or sold, as the case may be, by the producer during the next preceding calendar month, the point of severance thereof, the amount of taxes due, and any other information as the department may reasonably require for the proper enforcement of this act. The producer shall accompany the report with payment of the full amount of the taxes shown to be due. The report shall be signed by the producer himself in the case of an individual producer or by a member, officer, or manager of the producer in other cases.

Section 4. Purchasers and transporters of a product severed in Coosa County shall file a report with the Department of Revenue, on forms prescribed by the department, within 20 days after the end of each calendar month in which the purchaser or transporter purchased or transported earthen material severed in Coosa County. The report shall state the names and addresses of all producers in Coosa County from whom the purchaser or transporter has received the earthen material during the calendar month, the total quantity of earthen material so acquired, and, in the case of a transporter, to whom and where each ton of earthen material was delivered, and any other information as the commissioner may reasonably require for the proper enforcement of this act, including the routes traveled in transporting the gravel and the amounts of any privilege tax on the transportation. The report shall be signed by the purchaser or transporter himself or herself in the case of an individual purchaser or transporter, or by a member, officer, or manager of the purchaser or transporter in all other cases.

Section 5. The taxes imposed by this act shall constitute a debt due Coosa County and may be collected by civil suit, in addition to all other methods provided by law. The taxes, together with interest thereon, shall constitute and be secured by a lien upon the property of any person from whom the taxes are due. All provisions of the revenue law of this state which apply to the enforcement of liens for taxes due the state shall apply fully to the collection of the county taxes levied herein, and the state Department of Revenue for the use and benefit of Coosa County shall collect the taxes and enforce this act and shall have and exercise for the collection and enforcement all rights and remedies that this state or department has for collection of the state stone severance tax. The state Department of Revenue shall have full authority to employ special counsel as it deems necessary to enforce collection of the taxes levied by this act, and to otherwise enforce the provisions of this act, including any litigation involving this act, and the Department of Revenue shall pay the special counsel’s fee, as it deems necessary and proper, from the proceeds of the taxes collected by it for Coosa County.

Section 6. The state Department of Revenue shall charge Coosa County for collecting the county taxes levied herein, an amount or percentage of total collections not to exceed five percent of the total amount of taxes collected hereunder. The charge for collecting the taxes for the county may be deducted each month from the proceeds of the taxes before certifying the amount thereof due Coosa County for that month.

Section 7. The proceeds from taxes levied by this act shall be deposited in a separate account to be used for the maintenance, restoration, and replacement of county bridges and roads and for other general county purposes.

Section 8. This act shall expire and be repealed 20 years from the effective date of this act.

Section 9. This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.