The county commission is hereby authorized and empowered to appropriate county funds not otherwise appropriated or set apart by law toward a partial payment of the cost of public improvements made by a city or town to the sidewalks and streets around or abutting the lot or block occupied by any building belonging to the county, whether such improvements have been heretofore made or are hereafter made.
Ala. Code § 11-14-6 (1975)