Alabama Attorney General Opinion 1979-0112

MAR 27 1979 TliiATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF ALABAMA • MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 361 CHARLES A. GRADDICK ATTORNEY GENERAL YQ2 Honorable Ernest McCall Mayor, Town of Snead Snead, Alabama 35952 Municipalities - Medical Clinics - Snead, Town of Town may not construct a building to be released directly to a doctor for a medical clinic. Dear Mayor McCall: This office has received your opinion request under date of February 13, 1979. Additional information has subsequently been furnished to this office. You ask whether the Town of Snead may secure a loan from the Farmers Home Administration in order to build a building which would be leased, for an ade- quate consideration, to a doctor or doctors to be used as a medical clinic. The building itself would be pledged as col- lateral, and the loan would be repaid from the proceeds of the lease, but the Town of Snead would further obligate a portion of the city gasoline tax, not to be confused with the state gasoline tax, to be used to repay the loan so that if the building ceased to be used as a medical clinic it could be used by the. Town of Snead as a Town Hall. Code of Alabama 1975, §11-47-2 provides: Any incorporated city or town in this state may borrow money for temporary or any other lawful purpose or use to the extent of its constitutional debt limit and pay all costs, fees and commissions agreed upon in connection with any such loans, and the govern- ing body thereof may, without an election, issue evidences of indebtedness in the form of interest-bearing warrants, notes or bills pay- able, maturing at such times as such governing body may determine, not exceeding 15 years from the date of issue, and any such city or town may as security for any such evidences of in- debtedness and, as a part of the contract Hon. Ernest McCall Page Two '1' 0 27 MS whereunderanymoney is borrowed, agree to annually levy, collect and apply to the payment thereof, so long as the same or any part remains unpaid, any special tax or license authorized on the date of such con- tract to be levied and collected. It is apparent that the Town of Snead, by fully complying with Section 11-47-2, supra, . could borrow money in order to construct a building to be used for a lawful purpose. • However, municipal corporations in Alabama possess and may exercise only those powers granted to them by, the legislature. In Alabama the legislature has granted the authority to es- tablish medical clinics to properly created medical clinic boards and not to municipal corporations. Code of Alabama 1975, Sections 11-58-1 through 11-58-15. Therefore, it is the opinion of this Office that the Town of Snead could not lawfully accomplish its stated objectives by constructing a building which would be leased directly to a doctor or doctors to be used as a medical clinic. Sincerely yours, CHARLES A. GRADDICK Attorney General ant ,i-kki7`14U By- CAROL JEAN SMITH Assistant Attorney General CJS/dwm Ct