With the Alabama Legislative Session one month away, county officials are beginning to examine issues that could affect local government.

The Association of County Commissions of Alabama — a lobbying group consisting of representatives from county commissions from across the state — met last week to form legislative priorities.

Some of the most important issues include the future of a fund that doles out millions of dollars to county commissions each year, county administrative powers and business licenses.

Dallas County Probate Judge Kim Ballard said he is most concerned about the future of the Alabama Trust Fund, which collects oil royalties and oil lease payments. The fund pays county’s 10 percent of accrued interest each year and is expected to pay a total of $22 million to all Alabama counties in April, with nearly $300,000 going to Dallas County.

But Ballard and county officials across the state are worried the payments could be reduced as the state draws money from the balance trust fund.

“If the trust fund goes below a certain amount, we won’t get paid interest,” Ballard said. “It’s concerning because we use that money for infrastructure projects like resurfacing roads.”

A total of $437 million was withdrawn from the balance of the fund in 2012 and an additional withdrawal measure will be placed on 2014 ballots.

To ensure Alabama counties are paid their due, The ACCA proposes a constitutional amendment be enacted that shifts 20 percent of the main portion of the fund and 20 percent of all future oil lease and royalty payments into the County and Municipal Government Trust Fund.

“We are very much concerned about the idea that the state would spend the (main portion) of the trust fund, which could potentially impact payments to counties,” Executive Director of ACCA Sonny Brasfield said. “Withdrawing money from the (main portion) should only be done in a bankruptcy situation. The revenue from the Alabama Trust Fund has been extremely important to counties.”

Another important measure is a constitutional revision that would grant counties administrative powers without requiring legislative approval. The additional powers would not include the power to tax or regulate land use, but would allow the county commission to make decisions on how to run the county.

“We are generally aiming to improve the process that deals with improving local laws and lessen the number of local bill that are introduced,” Brasfield said.

For example, before Dallas County can officially enforce a noise ordinance passed this week, it must first pass in the legislature and later come back to the county commission for a final vote.

Ballard said the drawn-out process is tedious and unnecessary.

“I see where in matters of taxation or issues like that, the legislature would not give up that power and I wouldn’t ask them to,” he said. “Things like noise pollution and trash cleanup that make sense, I think eventually they will relent and give us that authority. We know the issues in Dallas County, but right now you have to go through the legislative process to enact any law.”

One final legislative priority that could affect Dallas County is business license reform.

The ACCA is proposing that business would only be required to obtain one type of license rather than one for each category of product.

“For example, if you want to sell brooms, you have to buy a broom license,” Brasfield said. “You can’t just buy one store license. We want to do away with all the individual product licenses.”

He said the change wouldn’t affect revenue for individual counties would eliminate worry about purchasing the correct business license for each product a store sells.