By Scott Turner
The Madison County Commission approved an agreement with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs for a grant to cover the sheriff’s department’s revenue losses from the state’s new permitess carry law.
District 2 Commissioner Steve Haraway told fellow commissioners the sheriff’s department could potentially lose between $650,000 to $700,000 a year based on conversations with Sheriff Kevin Turner, who was not present at the meeting Tuesday.
The law allows people 18 years or older who are not prohibited by state or federal law to carry a concealed handgun in public places without a permit.
County Attorney Jeff Rich told the commission the grant agreement did not include a set amount, but said the county anticipated receiving about $60,000 for the first quarter once the money is divided up among the state’s sheriff’s departments.
He said the grant amounts would be based upon previous years’ revenue reports. A representative of the sheriff’s department said grants would be distributed quarterly.
District 6 Commissioner Violet Edwards asked how much the sheriff’s department received from the permits in previous years.
The commissioners were told revenue decreased last year because people knew the law was coming. In January 2021 alone, the sheriff’s department generated $101,000. In January of last year, it fell to about $54,000. The sheriff’s department pulled in only about $24,000 last month.
Haraway said at Alabama county commission association meeting “it was announced everybody’s (revenue) was dropping.”
“So far, they’re looking at 2022,” Haraway said. “We’ve been pushing them to go back and look at 2021.”
Madison County Commission Chairman Mac McCutcheon said the sheriff’s department had done a good job of reporting past revenues from the permits. He said that was not the case with other counties. He was Alabama speaker of the house when the law passed.
The loss of revenue by sheriff’s departments is one reason the law needed to be repealed, according to Nancy McCall of Mom’s Demand Action. She also said during a legislative forum earlier this week that having people apply for permits was the only method of a background check in many cases.
But McCutcheon defended the law.
“Dealing with the permitting process, we’ve been through this discussion in Montgomery for many years,” McCutcheon said. “This just didn’t happen last year. It is a process we’ve been looking at for several years. Funding was part of the discussion with the sheriff’s association, as well as the loss of revenue. That’s one of the reasons we have in place these grants from the state’s perspective. The governor’s leading the charge to get those grants out to the sheriff’s departments so we can recoup those losses.”
Part of the law he said wasn’t getting much attention was the fact that a database has been set up for law enforcement agencies that identify individuals who are not permitted to carry firearms. He said the reporting will come from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
“As the dust settles and we get financial aid back to our sheriffs, I think ultimately, this will be a good law,” McCutcheon said.