City Commissioners Push Back Signing of SPLOST VII Agreement Amid Concerns

Toccoa City Commissioners will meet one more time before deciding whether to approve the latest SPLOST VII intergovernmental agreement.

The County had initially proposed a 70%/30% split of the next Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax after the revenue shares for the Towns of Martin and Avalon were taken out.

After weeks of back and fourth negotiations,  Stephens County Commissioners accepted the City’s counter offer of a 68.25% County, 31.75% City split with no conditions.

However, at their regular meeting Monday evening, City Commissioners were told City Attorney John Dickerson had questioned some of the points in the final SPLOST VII agreement.

Sitting in for Dickerson, attorney Austin Perry said there were several points that needed to be resolved before City Commissioners signed off on it.

One sticking point City attorneys had is whether the County plans to take out SPLOST monies to pay off County debt before or after the City’s share is dispersed.

“One of the bigger things we’ve been in discussions about today is the wording of how their debt is paid,” Perry said. “As it’s written now, we’re concerned the County may try to pay their debt down before the money is dispersed to us. We’ve talked with the County’s attorney and we all appear to be on the same page and the County will disperse the money before it pays down their debt.”

City Commissioner Jeanette Jamieson said she was also concerned about how the split of revenue monies is worded in the resolution voters will decide on in November.

Jamieson said the way the resolution is stated, there could be a cap of $7.3 million in SPLOST VII revenue to the City.

“When we agreed to this, we agreed based on a percentage,” Jamieson said. “The agreement is stated in dollars. And while these original dollars equal the percentage we agreed on, we realized if we collect less than the $23-million, based on percentage we’ll get less. However, if per chance there is more than $23-million (in SPLOST VII revenue) then our percentage could generate more money for the City.”

Perry indicated those two points still need to be clarified and advised against taking a vote to approve the agreement Monday night.

“Well I would love to vote for this issue, because I know how badly the City and County need it. I know how important it is to pass a sales tax. The point is, if there is anything that could be left to question, then our responsibility is that we see the language in here before we vote,” Jamieson noted.

After more discussion, Commissioners voted unanimously to wait until the language regarding percentages and County debt payments be clarified before the intergovernmental agreement and SPLOST VII resolution are approved.

A tentative called meeting was then set for Thursday at 5p at City Hall.