Sometimes there’s more news in the classifieds than the rest of the paper. Saturday’s Birmingham News included two legal advertisement for bills related to Jefferson County.

The first bill would reenact the county’s occupational tax. The tax would be levied at 0.5 percent of taxable income for most persons employed in Jefferson County. However, the tax would be phased out over four years. In 2012, the tax would decrease to 0.25 percent and in 2014 it would cease to exist.

A second bill advertised in Saturday’s paper would create the position of county comptroller and require the county commission to hire a county manager no later than June 1. 2011. The comptroller would be in charge of managing the county’s finances and keeping public documents such as budgets, financial statements, minutes and contracts. The comptroller would have the responsibility of ensuring that all warrants issued by the county would have sufficient revenue to support them.

Under state law, local bills must be advertised for three weeks before the Alabama Legislature can consider them.