(a) The county commission shall establish an account or accounts within the general fund of the county for payment of such amounts recommended by the Mobile County Indigent Care Board, as set forth herein. The county commission shall place into such account or accounts an amount equal to the sum of one-half, or 50 percent, of all oil and gas severance tax revenues, designated for and distributed to the General Fund of Mobile County, and remaining after distribution of those revenues to the Mobile County Board of Health and the Mobile County Board of Education provided for by Section 45-49-248, pursuant to Article 1, commencing with Section 40-19-1, of Chapter 20, Title 40, as amended, not to include any and all net revenues held in escrow, as a result of litigation, for Mobile County which have been collected pursuant to Act 79-434 and Act 80-708.
(b) Allocation of such revenues for indigent care shall not exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000), in fiscal year 1982-1983. In subsequent years the board shall consider such factors as estimated population growth, unemployment rates, population age distribution, and other such demographic and sociological factors as might be indicative of indigent care needs in establishing the levels of indigent care funding, provided, however, that the funds so allocated shall not be less than the funds allocated for the previous year as adjusted by change in the hospital consumer price index.
(c) The remainder of all revenues paid to Mobile County pursuant to any other severance tax or privilege tax on oil and gas, under any general or local law whatsoever, shall not be deemed a part of or included in the provision of this subpart. The revenues shall be used by the Mobile County Indigent Care Board to provide for the costs of medical care and treatment of medically indigent citizens of Mobile County, as set forth herein. Provided, however, that if the subject revenues exceed the need for funds to reimburse for medical care for the medically indigent of Mobile County, as of the end of the fiscal year of the county commission, then such funds shall revert to the General Fund of Mobile County.
(d) The provisions of this section are cumulative and shall apply to all of the additional oil and gas severance tax revenues henceforth to be distributed.
Last modified: May 3, 2021