Can town use tax funds for legal fees over trust fund?
The Flomaton Town Council voted Monday afternoon to ask the Alabama attorney general’s office for an opinion to see if the town can spend municipal funds to provide the mayor and the town of Flomaton legal representation in a quest to resolve the funds accumulated to maintain the Flomaton Cemetery.
In 1960 the cemetery property was transferred to a board of trustees that included the mayor, the postmaster and the president of Escambia County Bank. The town does not own the property.
Because there is no ‘president of Escambia County Bank’ since the sale to Ameri-First, the mayor, in his capacity as a trustee, said he needs to find out what can and can’t be done with the funds collected.
Flomaton Town Attorney Chuck Johns said Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., or any future mayor would be acting in his or her official capacity as a trustee of the cemetery.
“I didn’t think the town had anything to do with the cemetery,” said Councilwoman Lillian Dean.
Johns noted that when the trust was set up, the mayor was named as a trustee, along with the two others – not by name, but by position.
“That’s where I have a problem,” Dean said. “I’m not part of the cemetery. I don’t want the tax payers to pay the bill.”
Mayor Bondurant said the money is currently being held at Ameri-First earning a one-half percent interest and told the council he’s found a way to get 3.5 percent interest.
Johns also noted that any dispute over the funds will likely be settled in circuit court.
“The 1960s agreement needs to be brought into this century,” Johns said.
Bondurant also noted that everybody agrees that the town does not need to own the cemetery.
The resolution passed to pay legal fees to determine what can and cannot be done with the money.
