City Is Largest Land Owner According To Fixed Assets List
Only a few years ago, there was no list of Piedmont's municipally owned property and buildings, nor had each piece of property and each building been assigned a value. Now, the list is complete and has been updated. The result is that the city more property inside the city limits than any private concern, and its fixed assets are in the millions.
In discussing the city's property, City Clerk Bill Fann produced a stack of notices from the Tax Assessor's. The stack was nearly an inch thick, and each card corresponded to a parcel of property owned by the city.
On a computerized list of the property, it is interesting to note the dates assigned to each piece of land. The property with the earliest date is Highland Cemetery that was acquired by the city in 1884. Memorial Park has the next earliest date, having been acquired in 1945.
All other dates are representative of when the earliest records were available of the land being designated as city property. They range from the library in 1972 to the old armory in 2003.
There is no exact count of the acreage, but the city owns far more than 100 acres. With the cemetery's 23 acres, the 46 acres at the Sports Complex, all the school properties, and about 20 acres of Chief Ladiga Trail property, that comes to nearly 100 acres. To this, add the 22 acres acquired by the city when it gained control of the Water Works, Gas and Sewer Board. The city's parks, parking lots, the armory property, all the streets and utility rights of way and the property for every city building would combine with other land to approach, if not exceed 200 acres.
The city land map does not show any individual or business that owns more property.
Though all the property is not included on a single list, the majority of the city's land holdings is valued at slightly more than $317,000. However, the is for land values only. Buildings and other assets are listed and evaluated on separate lists.
The city's electrical system, alone, is valued at more than $8.8 million. This includes all poles, the substations, transformers and improvements.
Other city buildings include the administration building, the public safety building, the Municipal Court and Fire Station building, the Civic Center, Southern Depot Museum, Eubanks Welcome Center, Bethune Community Center and a number of others.
The total value of the buildings, including the old armory, is set at more than $2.8 million.
The city currently has not short-term debt that plagued officials for years. There is, however, some bonded indebtedness.
The importance of the value of the fixed assets is to determine the city's solvency. According to state law, a legal debt limit is imposed on each city. Simply put, no municipality may incur debt for more than its actual worth. This limit is not affected by bonded indebtedness.
The fixed assets are in addition to any cash reserves the city maintains. Based on the current listings for property and buildings, the city's financial posture is excellent. In the event of an emergency, municipal officials could borrow millions without being in danger of exceeding the debt limit.

Rising Costs Affect The Rescue Squad
With fuel prices at record highs, even the local emergency medical service is feeling the squeeze.
In a release from the Piedmont rescue squad the cost of medical supplies has skyrocketed in less than a decade. According to one member of the squad's board of directors, it cost $7.523 to purchase all the medical supplies for an ambulance. These supplies are required by the state. Last year, the same supplies cost $16,234.
In 1996, the fuel bill paid by the squad was $9,145.70. Last year that figure more than doubled at $21,518.89. According to the inflated cost of fuel this year, it may double again. Vehicle maintenance cost has also increased
The squad says the financial problem is compounded by the decline in the number of people with health care insurance.
Squad records shows the organization makes and average of 250 to 300 calls per month transporting patients to area hospitals and nursing homes. Some patients require transportation to Birmingham.
In an effort to cope with the increasing expenses, The squad has issued an appeal to those who don't have health insurance, but have an outstanding bill. They are asked to call the squad's business office, 447-3089, and ask for the billing department. Squad officials say they will be glad to set up a custom weekly or monthly payment plan to take care of the bill.

There Is Plenty Of Action Before An Out-Of-Town Football Game
When the Piedmont faithful follow the Bulldogs to an out-of-town game, they may allow enough time to grab a sandwich, but they always are in their seats at kickoff. The pageantry of the band and cheerleaders have become familiar figures, but there is quite a bit of action behind the scenes to get them there.
Friday was Piedmont's first game, and the Dogs traveled to Randolph County for the opener. At 4:30 the members of the band, the cheerleaders, chaperones and other parents were at the parking lot behind high school. Two buses were loaded with instruments and equipment. T
he cheerleaders carefully packed their banners and standards. There was a sea of light green T-shirts worn by band members that surrounded the buses. Nearby, a pickup truck was loaded with percussion equipment. On a word from the band director, the passengers boarded the buses, with everybody looking for their favorite seat and a place to store some small item.
The entire procedure took only about 10 minutes, and there was a minimum of wasted motion.
When the fans arrived, the band and the cheerleaders were ready to perform.

Strictly Personal
High Gas Prices Affect Everyone
Before getting into this week's, there are some congratulations to be passed around. First, The First Baptist Church celebrated its 150th anniversary Sunday. That's quite a milestone. Dr. Harrell Cushing was the guest speaker, and I wish I had been there to say hello. He was my parents' pastor at Gadsden's First Baptist.
Also, I must give a tip of the hat to the Spring Garden Panthers for winning their opener.
Now, to this week's subject.
Folks, it's only the tip of the iceberg, be we are beginning to see the effects of the artificially inflated fuel costs. It's starting and it's frightening.
The obvious effects are higher prices on everything that depends on transportation to reach the marketplace. That's everything. A one-time healthy economy is being undermined and will suffer serious damage before the year is over.
It's the things that you and I don't normally think about. A good example is otherwise honest people becoming thieves. I was at a local convenience store when a car drove away without paying for more than $30 in gasoline. I have been told that the number of these occurrences is increasing across the nation.
A convenience store owner was killed in Fort Payne when he tried to prevent a customer from driving away from the pump without paying.
If you're not familiar with how privately operated convenience stores function, the operator hopes he can sell enough gas to pay his rent, The profit margin on a gallon of gasoline is only a penny or so, and this is offset by charges on credit cards. When a few customers drive away without paying, the owner or operator of the store could find himself in the red on his monthly gasoline sales.
By the way, to my knowledge, the gasoline distributors make no allowance for "drive-aways."
The next time you pull up to a convenience store gas pump, don't be surprised if you are required to pay for your gas before pumping. This is about the only way the businessman can protect himself from criminals, even though it may be a slight inconvenience to the honest customers. When you get gas, try to realize that it's not the convenience store that is asking you to pay before you pump. It is the criminal that causes the problem, not the businessman.
Why would people risk a possible criminal conviction over a few gallons of gasoline? In some cases, it can be explained by the vicious cycle in which we are all trapped.
Over the years, ours has become a mobile society. We count on fuel-powered vehicles to get to work, or to the doctor, or to the grocery store. If we don't work, we usually don't eat. Therefore we must have fuel to get to work. Food prices, clothing, medicine (that's already too high) and other goods are being affected by higher fuel costs. This winter, for no apparent reason other than greed, natural gas prices will skyrocket, as will the cost of heating fuel.
These factors combine to put a great deal of financial pressure on American families. While the low-income families are hit hardest, the middle class will suffer almost as much.
On the topic of medical care, I call your attention to a story on this page concerning the spiraling costs being faced by the Piedmont Rescue Squad. Some people simply can't pay their ambulance bills. In the future, will the squad be forced to offer its services to those who either have insurance, offer payment before being transported or have some pre-payment arrangement with the squad?
The Rescue Squad has saved scores, maybe hundreds of lives over the years, but even this fine organization must continue to pay its bills.
To answer the question of why a person would steal gasoline, it is because they may be faced with swiping a little fuel so the family can eat, or get medicine, or clothe their children.
High drug costs may be the topic of another column, but the basic cause of the current situation is gas prices. These prices are not being inflated by the owners of convenience stores or service stations. The guilty parties are a handful of U.S. petroleum companies who have joined hands with those who wear turbans, live in monarchies and generally run around killing each other. These are the culprits who are practicing terrorism on the American public as surely as any Arab organization. These are the lovely folks that are showing billions of dollars in profits from the artificially inflated fuel prices.
Our government has seen fit to take action against people who have made the American public suffer. The same government has done nothing to bring fuel prices to some reasonable level, even though the increase in the companies' profits reflect the same percentages as the increases. Of course, I doubt if Iraq and Afghanistan contribute heavily to the politicians who run our government. The oil companies and others have enough money to buy our elected officials, thereby shielding themselves from any action to protect the American public.