CITY AND COUNTY OFFICIALS CALL FOR NEW SALES TAX
Officials in Thomas county proposed a special purpose local option sales tax for the funding of roads and emergency services. The following narratives outline in chronological order the development of the proposal for the sales tax, which eventually passed. What officials said were the final proposals for spending the money is here.
Officials meet to call for the sales tax.
Early proposed expenditures of sales tax money for Emergency Service Department, later modified.
Early proposed expenditures for road paving, later modified.
Discussion during the first meeting about the proposed sales tax.
City Council members discuss the proposed sales tax.
County commissioners may postpone a vote on the sales tax referendum.
The city council passed an resolution calling on the county commission to call a sales tax vote.
County Commissioners move up the date they will call for a sales tax referendum.
Meeting of Mayors in the county generally support sales tax.
The Thomasville City Council discussed street paving if the sales tax vote passes.
There was a town hall-style meeting to discuss the proposed SPLOST in Ochlocknee.
There was a town meeting in Boston to discuss the proposed special purpose local option sales tax.
There was a town meeting in Barwick to discuss the proposed sales tax vote.
There was a town meeting in Coolidge to discuss the proposed sales tax vote.
Thomas
County voters pass the proposed sales tax.
Thomas County officials and the mayors of the municipalities
in the county are calling for citizens to pass a two year, $12-million, special
purpose local option sales tax to pay for capital expenditures of the Emergency
Service Department and for road paving. Most of the members of the city
councils of the cities and other county commissioners were told of the plans at
a meeting Tuesday night, July 20. Leading the discussion was the Chairman of
the county commission, Josh Herring, and the Mayor of Thomasville, Roy
Campbell. They said a special sales tax would pay for all the buildings and
equipment the ESD needed and pave the roads that citizens wanted paved. Without
the sales tax, they said it might take 15 years to fully build the ESD and 10
years to pave roads. It was proposed that the one-percent sales tax be called
in an August meeting of the county commission and voted by county citizens on
September 21, 1999. If passed by citizens, the sales tax would go into effect
January 1, 2000. The officials also acknowledged that the timing was difficult
to ask citizens to vote for a sales tax increase with tax assessors sending out
recent residential property assessments that generally increased property
values.
--The proposal calls for an increase of 1% on the current 5% local sales tax.
Thomas County is one of only five counties in the state that currently have 5%
sales tax rates. Fifty-six counties have 6% sales tax rates. Ninety-eight have
7% sales tax rates. The special purpose sales tax would be only for the ESD
capital improvements and road paving and would end when $12,000,000 was raised
or two years had passed. Previous years, special purpose local option sales
taxes could only be used for capital building projects, but a bill passed in
the most recent General Assembly and signed by the Governor now allows
equipment to be purchased.
--The proposal calls for $4,000,000 spent on ESD buildings and equipment.
4 new fire/EMS stations would
be built and 1 communications building:
A fire station and ambulance station to replace the fire and EMS station on
Remington Avenue would be built, most likely somewhere along US 84 from the
Smith Avenue bridge over US-19 to the new state patrol station on the
north by-pass -- $525,000
An expansion of the downtown fire station in City Hall to accommodate new fire
equipment -- $425,000
A new Boston station -- $250,000
A new Coolidge station -- $250,000
A communications building and equipment for 911 dispatching, most likely
somewhere near the Hines Jail-Justice Center and the current 911 dispatching
tower and equipment -- $505,000
The proposed new construction for the ESD would total an estimated $1,955,000.
On renovations and upgrading of
public facilities:
The Ochlocknee station -- $125,000
Renovations of all volunteer fire stations -- $220,000
Upgrading other public facilities and volunteer equipment -- $220,000
The proposed renovation totals an estimated $565,000.
To purchase equipment and
vehicles for fire, EMS and rescue:
A ladder truck -- $600,000
Three first responder trucks to be stationed in Boston, Coolidge and Ochlocknee
to provide quick medical and fire response -- $225,000
Three pumpers -- $525,000
Two ambulances, one new and one chassis -- $130,000
The proposed purchase totals an estimated $1,480,000.
The total ESD capital expenses total $4,000,000
--The proposal calls for $8,000,000 to be spent on city and county road improvements that included paving, sidewalks where needed, drainage improvements and the purchase of the equipment to do the work. Half would go to the county, half would go to the cities in the county.
Of the $4,000,000 to the
cities, apportioned by population:
Thomasville would get 80%, or $3,200,000 (with Mayor Roy Campbell saying that
state matching funds would bring the total available for street improvements to
$5,334,000).
Barwick would get 1.1%, or $44,000.
Boston would get 6.3%, or $252,000.
Coolidge would get 2.8%, or $112,000.
Meigs would get 4.9%, or $196,000.
Ochlocknee would get 2.70%, or $108,000.
Pavo would get 2.2%, or $88,000.
--During the meeting
Tuesday night, no one said they opposed the idea of asking for a special
purpose local option sales tax, but several said it would be a very hard sale
to citizens, especially since residential property assessments had been
delivered recently. Most said they had heard – or had definite personal
feelings – that the new assessments were too high. With the higher assessments,
property taxes would go up for individual property owners. County Commission
Chairman Herring said he believed the commission would lower millage rates to
compensate for the higher assessments, but could not speak for the entire
commission or even be sure of that action until a tax digest was studied.
Herring said a major problems with lowering tax millage rates was that the
recent assessments were on residential property only. Agricultural land and
commercial land had already had assessments in previous years and had already
had taxes paid on those assessments. Any rollback now of property taxes by the
county commission would have to be on all property.
--Herring said the current budget for the ESD is $3.8-million a year, but that
does not include capital spending. There is $300,000 currently earmarked for a
capital budget and that is funded by profits from the joint Thomasville-Thomas
County owned landfill. Thomasville Mayor Roy Campbell said it would take 15
years to fully equip the ESB on that capital budget. Campbell said with the
proposed 1% sales tax that funding could be completed in two years. Plus,
Campbell said, $300,000 could still be taken from the landfill to build a cash
reserve for the ESD.
--Herring said calling for a referendum by the citizens on September 21 would
mean the new sales tax could begin to be collected January 1, 2000. If a vote
is held in November, the tax could not legally begin to be collected until
April, 2000. To call for a referendum in September, the county commission would
have to act by their August 10 meeting.
--Thomasville City Council members met in workshop session Wednesday, July 21. There were brief discussions about the proposed special purpose sales tax. Council members said they have heard some reactions from citizens about the proposal to have a referendum to impose a 1% special purpose local option sales tax in the county. The tax would fund capital improvements for the Emergency Service Department and pave roads and streets in cities and the county. Mayor Roy Campbell said he had three citizens say they approved of a sales tax, Rick Singletary said one person said he approved the sales tax and Camille Payne said one person said the tax was OK but did not think it would pass. The proposal was made public Tuesday, July 20.
--Thomas
County commissioners indicated they may let citizens have more time to consider
a vote on a special purpose local option sales tax at the same time they voted
down a proposal to have no referendum on the issue in 1999. The commissioners
discussed the issue at a regular meeting Monday, July 26.
--On July 20, Commission Chairman Josh Herring and Thomasville Mayor Roy
Campbell, along with the mayors of the other towns in Thomas County, proposed
an additional 1% local sales tax for two years to pay for capital expenses of
the Emergency Service Department and for street and road paving. The proposal
was for the county commission at their August 10th meeting to call for a
referendum vote by citizens to take place September 21. At Monday’s, July 26,
county commission meeting Commissioner Tim Sherrod offered a motion to have no referendum
in 1999. The motion was seconded by Commissioner I.L. Mullins and Commissioner
Moses Gross joined the two in voting yes. Voting against the motion was
Chairman Herring and Commissioners Karl Abrams, Bobby Brown, Jim Miller and
Ricky Smith, so the motion failed, 5-3. Immediately after the vote, Chairman
Herring repeated what he said right before the vote, that most of the
commission realized that citizens needed more time to consider information
about the sales tax issue before voting on a referendum. Herring said the board
could still call for a referendum in September but "will likely not."
Herring said the board could call for a referendum in November or March of
2000, but he said he hoped the board would call it when citizens were well
informed on the issue. No one on the commission contradicted Herring in his
comments.
--Some of the commissioners indicated their feelings just before the vote on
Sherrod’s motion. Herring said he and other board members were concerned about
the timing of the proposed September 21 vote so soon after residents in the
county had received property assessments that generally reflected an increase
in their property values, therefore an increase in their property taxes, but he
said he was concerned that the small town mayors who were strongly in favor of
the sales tax funding for the ESD and street paving would feel "left out
in the cold" if the board voted not to have a referendum in 1999. Herring
also said people would be better informed after the first of the year on the
need for a sales tax, but "Why have a motion to postpone a when there
hasn’t been a motion to call for a referendum?" Commissioner Brown said
for his part, he needed more time to decide on the need for the sales tax, a
notion that Herring said he agreed with. Commissioner Miller said he thought it
was "not proper for the board to be getting into an argument over the
issue."
--There was considerable discussion at a workshop and meeting Monday night, February 28, 2000, of the Thomasville City Council about relations with the Thomas County Commission and efforts to maintain the Emergency Services Authority. The council passed a resolution urging the county commission to call for a referendum by citizens to approve a 1% special purpose sales tax and have part of the money raised to support the Authority. The council passed an resolution calling on the county commission to call a vote in June by citizens on a special purpose local option sales tax of 1% to raise money for the ESA and paving streets and roads. The resolution called for the tax to last until $14 million was raised or last two years, whichever came first.
--A majority of the Thomas County
Commission has indicated a willingness to vote for placing a special local
option sales tax of 1% before voters if it is for a short time, funds the
Emergency Service Authority and paves roads. A poll of commissioners the last
days of February and first days of March, 2000, none of the eight commissioners
said they were against voting to place the issue before the voters but two said
they had not decided how they would vote on a referendum call and they were not
sure if it would pass a vote by citizens. Of the six who said they would vote
on a call, two said they were not sure if citizens would pass a sales tax, while
the other four said they thought it would pass.
--At a Emergency Services Authority board meeting February 24, 2000, the board
discussed the need for adequate funding for the Authority. One of the two
county commission representatives on the ESA board, Richard Smith, said during
the meeting he was ready to vote to place a local option sales tax before the
citizens that use part of it’s proceeds to fund the ESA. Smith also said he
thought it would pass the voters. The other county commission representative on
the ESA board, Moses Gross, said after the meeting he was “not sure” if he was
ready to vote to call for the referendum and he was not sure if it would pass
the citizens. The other commissioners were polled by telephone individually.
Bobby Brown said he was not sure how he would vote on a call until he had
details of what would be funded, how much and for how long. Brown also said he
was not sure what citizens would vote for. Josh Herring said he would vote to
place a call before the citizens to fund the ESA and pave roads, but he was not
sure if the citizens would pass it. Karl Abrams also said he would vote to
present the sales tax to the citizens, but was not sure if citizens would vote
for it. Three other commissioners, I.L. Mullins, Jim Miller and Tim Sherrod,
joined Smith in saying they would vote to place a sales tax to fund the ESA and
pave roads before the citizens. They also thought it would pass a vote by the
citizens.
--Thomas County
Commissioners indicated Tuesday, March 14, that they would call for a
referendum by citizens on a sales tax to fund the Emergency Services Authority
and pave roads. All the commissioners raised their hands when Chairman Tim
Sherrod asked if members of the board wanted to call for the 1% Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Tax at a meeting June 13. If the board called the referendum
at that June meeting, citizens would vote on the issue July 18, the same day as
the Georgia General Primary. The consideration of the sales tax was one of the
items on the agenda at the commissioner’s regular second Tuesday of the month
meeting.
--In consideration of the sales tax, most of the discussion was by Chairman
Sherrod, Jim Miller, Moses Gross and Josh Herring. Sherrod said a 1% sales tax
would take in $5.3 million the first year and slightly more the next year and a
half. He said his hope was that the sales tax would bring in $14 million, with
$6 million allocated to the ESA and $8 million for road paving in the cities
and rural parts of the county. The commissioners said they would mark the money
for the ESA to pay for a headquarters building, four new fire stations – three
of those in outlying towns in the county, a 911 building with new radio
consoles, renovation of all volunteer fire stations and upgrades to other
public facilities. In addition, the ESA would purchase equipment for fire
protection, emergency medical and rescue. Other equipment purchases would
include a ladder truck, three first responder vehicles, thirteen pumpers, two
ambulances and volunteer fire equipment. Road improvements would be split 50%
in unincorporated county areas and 50% in cities, with Thomasville getting 80%
of the cities’ share and the other towns getting a proportion of the share
according to their population. Commissioners said when the board votes to
present the sales tax referendum to citizens, there will be details in the call
outlining how much money is raised by the sales tax, when it will expire and
where it will be spent.
--At a joint workshop meeting Thursday, March 23, between the Thomas County Board of Commissioners and the Thomasville City Council, county commissioners voted to call for a referendum by citizens to approve a 1% sales tax at a meeting in May, instead of June as previously planned. Commissioners said they would issue a call for citizens to vote on the sales tax during their regular meeting May 11. The vote by citizens would be July 18. The sales tax would be for 2-1/2 years and raise $14 million, which ever came first, to fund the ESA and pave roads. Commissioners had said they would call for the referendum on June 13, the last chance the commission would have had to make a July 18th vote. However, at the workshop, Thomasville Mayor Roy Campbell said an organized campaign needed to get underway as soon as possible to pass the sales tax. Both Mayor Campbell and County Commission Chairman Tim Sherrod said they were going to encourage that organized effort to pass the sales tax. Under state law regulating the vote on sales taxes, the public and mayors of municipalities in a county have to be duly notified prior to a county commission calling for a vote.
--Five
of the seven mayors of the municipalities in Thomas County met Thursday
evening, April 6, in accordance with state requirements before a county
commission vote on calling a public referendum on a establishing a 1% local
option sales tax. All five mayors said they supported having citizens vote on
the issue; three said they and their councils strongly supported a sales tax,
one gave rather weaker support and one said he had no comments. The mayors
attending were Roy Campbell from Thomasville, Raiford Long of Ochlocknee, Wayne
NeSmith of Meigs, Thad Selman of Barwick and L. M. Taylor of Pavo. Not at the
meeting were David Dawson of Coolidge and Danny Groover of Boston. Groover sent
word with County Commissioner Josh Herring that he was not able to attend the
meeting, but that he and his council supported the proposed sales tax. County
Commission Chairman Tim Sherrod chaired the meeting; also there from the
commission was Herring, Bobby Brown, Jim Miller and Richard Smith.
Commissioners not there were Karl Abrams, Moses Gross and I.L. Mullins.
--The proposed sales tax would raise about $14 million in 2-1/2 years to fund
the Emergency Services Authority and provide for street and road improvements
including paving, re-surfacing and sidewalk construction. The state Department
of Transportation has indicated to the county’s legislative delegation that the
state would match 75-cents for every dollar raised in sales tax money for
street and road improvements. The county commission has already voted to say on
May 9 it will call for a referendum for citizens to vote July 18.
--Raiford Long of Ochlocknee said he had no comments about the proposed sales
tax. Wayne NeSmith of Meigs said he wanted to put the issue before the voters.
He said Meigs did not have any streets that needed paving, but acknowledged
that there were improvements needed in fire protection and roads in the county.
L. M. Taylor of Pavo said he and the council strongly supported the sales tax,
calling it much better than property taxes. Taylor also said he believed that
the improvements to fire, ambulance and dispatching would “be very good
for the entire county.” Thad Selman of Barwick said he strongly supported the
sales tax. He said his council had “problems at first, but once I explained the
benefits of the improvements in public safety, they strongly supported it.”
Selman said once the benefits were explained to citizens, they supported the
proposal. He said there were some that opposed the sales tax, but “some people
will growl if you hang them with a new rope.” Roy Campbell of Thomasville said
he and the council were strongly in favor of the sales tax and “those citizens
against it can be convinced, if we all get out and work for it.” Campbell said
there was a lot of work to do in a short amount of time because the school
systems also wanted to call for a 1% special purpose local sales tax. Campbell
said the school systems would likely call for a vote in September. Under state
law, the county school system is supposed to call for sales tax referendum and
it must share the money raised with the city school system. County school board
members have indicated that if they call for a referendum, it will be only if the
city school board joins them in a call for a vote. Both school boards have said
they face severe funding challenges to meet the requirements of Governor Roy
Barnes’ education reforms just passed by the legislature.
--The Thomas
County School Board has decided to go ahead with plans to call for a special
purpose local option sales tax vote by citizens. The board met Monday night,
April 24, and voted 5-1 to seek a vote by citizens in September for the 1%
sales tax. The school tax is different than the special purpose sales tax
proposed by Thomas County and Thomasville governments; the city and county is
planning to ask for a vote by citizens on July 18 to provide funding for the
Emergency Services Agency and provide paving. The schools say they need the money
to meet the requirements of school reforms instituted by the state.
--The Thomasville City School Board met Tuesday, April 25, but there was no
discussion in open meeting about the sales tax vote. By law, any money raised
in a sales tax for schools has to be shared with all the public schools in the
county and a vote has to be called by both boards. The school boards would call
for the vote in a meeting in June, if there was a consensus that a vote by the
public take place in September. The county school board’s vote on Monday was
with one dissenter, John Stephenson. He said it was better to wait until later
in the year until more time had passed from the vote on the ESA and paving.
--The Thomas County Commission set July 18, 2000, as the date for citizens in the county to vote on a special purpose local option sales tax. The decision came during a regular commission meeting May 9. The tax would end when $14 million was raised or two years ended, whichever came first. Of the money raised, $8 million would pave and resurface roads in cities and rural areas of the county and $6 million would fund capital needs of the Emergency Services Agency. The vote on the issue was 7-1; the one vote against the referendum came from Commissioner Moses Gross. He did not offer a reason for the no vote during the discussion of the issue, anytime during the meeting or after the meeting when questioned by the media.
--The Thomas County Board of Commissioners met Monday, May 22. They took action on a sales tax resolution, discussed the fifth member of the Emergency Services Agency board and other county business.Commissioners passed a resolution with the language required by state law calling for a special one-percent sales tax. The vote was 8-0 with no discussion. The resolution said the purpose of the tax was "Construction of Roads and Bridges throughout the Thomas County, Purchase of Emergency Services Equipment, Construction of Emergency Services Facilities for housing E-911 and Fire and EMS facilities." The resolution said "The maximum period of time during which the tax may be levied is 2 years and 2 quarters," and "The maximum costs of the projects to be undertaken using the sales and use tax proceed is $14,000,000.00 which shale be the amount to be raised by the tax." In comments after the meeting, Chairman Sherrod said roads could be resurfaced and sidewalks constructed with sales tax monies if passed by citizens. The board sent the resolution to the superintendent of elections so it can be on the ballot for the Primary Election on July 18. Sherrod also said the Board of the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce had endorsed the sales tax at a meeting earlier in the day and will conduct town hall meetings to support it's passage.. --In discussing the fifth member of the Emergency Services Board, County Attorney Bruce Warren said detailed study on his part had him come to the conclusion that the county board did not need to ratify the selection of Ervin Brock as the fifth and newest member of the ESA board.
--The Road Committee of the Thomas
County Board of Commissioners set some of the priorities for road paving in the
proposed special sales tax referendum. The meeting was Wednesday, May 31. Of
the 16 roads, 30 miles, in unincorporated parts of the county that are on the
county's paving petition list, 6 were selected to have survey work begun as
soon as possible. A list of roads to be resurfaced will be drawn up later. The
county board has committed to the paving work, whether or not the sales tax
passes, but commissioners did discuss that the list would take over ten years
to complete without sales tax money. With part of the sales tax, it was
estimated work could be completed in 4 to 5 years. The work would be done with
contractors, the commission already having dropped its own road paving crew and
equipment. It was estimated the work for the county's road paving would cost
$5,000,000. Commissioners said the state DOT has committed to contributing 75%
of the county's participation in road paving. Commissioners say they hoped that
discussions with the state DOT could result in most of the state's
participation money being spent locally.
--The 6 roads approved by the committee for survey work are P-Green (0.92
miles), Rogers (2.24 miles), Helicopter (1.48 miles), Pasco (0.42), Egg &
Butter (1.53 miles) and Watkins Roads (2.33). The other roads on the list for
the county to pave using sales tax money if available are B-Green (3.60 miles),
McKinnon between Coffee and Pavo Roads (1.38 miles), Monroe (0.21 miles), Beulah
Church (0.52 miles), Bond Street (0.24 miles), Mary Owens between Enon and
Murphy Roads (1.50 miles), Meadow Lake Drive (0.55 miles), Centennial between
GA-122 and Lawhorne Road (1.29 miles), Eason Crossing between 5-Forks and Ozell
Roads (1.84 miles) and Wilson Roads between Airline and Ponder Roads (1.30
miles).
--Details of how the proposed special
purpose local option sales tax would be spent were explained during a press
conference Friday, June 9, 2000, at the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of
Commerce. In addition to Chamber officials, officials from Thomasville, Thomas
County and some of the towns in the county said they supported the spending
plan. The Thomas County Commission has already called for citizens to vote July
18 on the proposed increase of 1% in sales tax in the county, to be added on
the current 5% already in place. The proposed tax would end after
two-and-a-half years or when $14 million is raised, which ever comes first. Of
the total, $8 million would go for road paving and improvements and $6 million
would go for capital spending of the Emergency Services Agency.
--The Chairman of the County Commission, Tim Sherrod, Thomasville Mayor Roy
Campbell, Emergency Services Chairman Richard Smith and Chamber President Don
Sims lead the presentation of the proposals, with several city, county and ESA
officials also at the conference. The officials said there were many reasons to
support the proposed sales tax, but they emphasized five. The state Department
of Transportation has committed to matching 75-cents of every dollar raised by
the sales tax for road improvements. That would mean an additional $6 million
for the road program. Also, new ratings by insurance companies because of
improved fire protection would substantially reduce the cost of fire insurance,
especially in rural areas of the county and small towns. Another reason was,
according to Mayor Campbell, “Emergency services are for everyone, not just
property owners.” Also, 30% to 35% of the tax would be paid by people outside
of Thomas County and it would not be a permanent tax. The officials said they
did not think that an increase of 1% would mean retail sales would move out of
the county because all the counties around Thomas have sales taxes higher than
5% .
--The current state sales tax is 4%. Also, Thomas County has a general purpose
local option sales tax of 1% that was approved by citizens in 1992 and that has
no sunset limit. That general local sales tax generated about $5,350,000 in
1999 for property tax relief, libraries, recreation, economic development,
animal control, maintaining the jail-justice center, the drug squad and
emergency management. The general sales tax also raised $450,000 for Thomas
County road improvements in 1999. In 1985 county citizens approved a special
purpose local option sales tax of $12 million that lasted 4 years and
went to roads and bridges in the county. In 1989 county citizens approved a
special sales tax that lasted 39 months and raised $10.5 million for building
the jail-justice center and libraries.
--Officials said the Emergency Services Agency would get $6 million from the
proposed sales tax. Mayor Campbell said without funding from a sales tax, the
needed capital projects would take “twenty years to raise.” Chairman Sherrod
said the ESA had a current annual budget of $4.2 million and almost all went to
sustaining operations of fire, ambulance, dispatching and emergency management.
He said the fees raised by the ambulance and dispatching services did not even
come close to being able to address the capital funding needs of the ESA. For
example, the funds generated by 911 fees on each telephone line total about
$300,000 a year.
--The supporters of the proposed sales tax said the capital funding of the ESA
will fulfill a long-standing promise to citizens in outlying areas of the
county to improve fire and emergency medical response. The goal is to have at
least a 10 minute response to emergency calls with three manned stations in the
county outside of Thomasville; a new station in Boston for $250,000, a new
station in Coolidge for $250,000 and renovation of the fire station in
Ochlocknee or Lake Riverside for $120,000. All the volunteer stations would get
renovations at $200,000. “Other public facilities” have funding at $180,000.
The current fire and ambulance stations on Remington Avenue in Thomasville
would be moved to a new facility close to the current stations and somewhere
just outside the northeastern edge of Thomasville; funding that is set for
$300,000. Land acquisition is funded for $250,000. There is $900,000 for
funding the expansion of the fire station in Thomasville’s City Hall for ESA
headquarters and fire units. Building a new 911 building and putting equipment
in it is funded at $650,000; the location for that building is not set, but is
likely on the grounds of the jail-justice center.
--New equipment for the ESA is proposed: a ladder truck at $650,000, 3 first
responder trucks at $250,000, 3 ambulances at $300,000, 3 fire tankers at
$200,000, 8 fire pumpers at $1,200,000 and volunteer fire equipment at
$300,000. The fire vehicles bought by the sales tax would replace much of the
current volunteer trucks that are worn out and join the rest of the newer fire
vehicles in the fleet.
--Of the $8 million raised by the proposed sales tax for roads, half will go to
streets in the various cities and half will go to roads in unincorporated parts
of the county. Apportioned by population, Thomasville will get 80% of the
cities’ $4 million of the sales tax money, the smaller towns will get the rest.
The state’s declared match will be about $6 million. Most of the money will go
to paving, but the money can also be used for resurfacing, improvements and
building sidewalks. There are 21.44 miles of roads to be improved in the county
and 13 miles in Thomasville. Sherrod estimated that it took about
$300,000 to $400,000 a year to maintain dirt roads in the county. Campbell said
it took about $180,000 a year to maintain dirt streets in the city. Both
officials said they would contract out the road work so that several projects
could be worked on at one time.
--County, city and chamber officials said they planned several town meetings to
inform citizens about the sales tax issue: Tuesday, June 20, 6:30PM in the
Thomas County Courthouse, Thursday, June 29, 6:30PM at Meigs City Hall,
Thursday, June 29, 7:30PM at the Pavo Recreation Center, Thursday, July 6,
7:30PM at the Ochlocknee Community Civic Club, Monday, July 10, 6:30PM, at the
Boston Community Club, Tuesday, July 11, 7:30PM at Barwick City Hall and
Thursday, July 13, 7:30PM at the Coolidge City Hall.
--The Thomas County Board
of Education postponed consideration of a Special Purpose Local Option Sales
Tax (SPLOST) to raise money for education in the county. An agenda sent to the
media for the regular monthly meeting of the board for Tuesday, June 13, had an
item for approval of a SPLOST resolution. Contacted late Monday afternoon, June
12, Superintendent Larry Green said the SPLOST had been dropped from the
agenda. Dr. Green said "the board still had some issues to resolve before
consideration of the resolution."
--The county school board is considering the SPLOST in order to raise funds to
meet the requirements of the new education reforms implemented by the state. A
significant impact of those new reforms call for a decrease in the
student-teacher ratio in early elementary grades and would require expanded
facilities. The school board's SPLOST is different than the SPLOST proposed by
the County Commission and the Thomasville City Council. The school board is
proposing citizens vote on imposing a 1% sales tax for education after the July
18 vote on the city-county SPLOST. Whether or not the city-county SPLOST is
passed by citizens, the school board would ask citizens to pass an additional
1% sales tax. There are two election dates that are left in 2000 for a possible
vote - in September and November. Any SPLOST called by schools would have to be
by the county school board and the city school board in joint resolutions and
the money raised would have to be allocated to the school systems in proportion
to the percentage of students in each system. There are apparently ongoing
efforts to write the joint resolution that calls for a sales tax vote for
education. Some city school board members have indicated they might be willing
to wait for a call for a education SPLOST until the city-county's road and
emergency services SPLOST has expired but no formal vote has been taken on any
call for a education SPLOST vote.
--Members of the
Thomasville City Council and Thomas County Board of Commissioners met in a
joint meeting Thursday, June 15, and discussed the proposed Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Tax.
--The participants heard the Executive Director of the Emergency Services
Agency, Jack Smith, say one of the three fire-ambulance stations set for the
county outside Thomasville would be in Ochlocknee. Up until the Thursday
meeting, there had been some question about the location of a station other
than Boston and Coolidge. Officials said the criteria for a fire-ambulance
station was one that provided coverage to high concentrations of residents,
availability of water resources and access to good roads. A proposed station in
the Lake Riverside community would provide good response to a densely populated
community, but the lack of good sources of water was a mitigating factor. There
were also problems with road access to other parts of northern Thomas County,
causing a more than 10 minute response time to Meigs. Smith said the ESA staff
decided that moving the fire station in downtown Ochlocknee to US-19 east of
downtown would solve several problems; one was bringing Lake Riverside just in
the five-mile circle of response from the proposed station, and the other was
quick access to US-19 for a quick response to Meigs. Smith said a new
Ochlocknee station would have fire and ambulance service available at all
hours. The fire station at Lake Riverside would have a fire tanker truck to be
used in combination to a pumper from Ochlocknee or one of the other stations.
The participants in the joint meeting also discussed the various dates and
times for up-coming series of town hall meetings to encourage citizens to vote
for the 1% sales tax on July 18.
--Thomasville and Thomas County
officials, along with Chamber of Commerce President Don Sims, conducted a town
hall-style meeting Tuesday night, June 20, about the proposed special purpose
local option sales tax (SPLOST) for the county. There were about 40 citizens at
the meeting, but most of the two-hour discussion was dominated by about five
citizens expressing, if not outright opposition, then concerns about the
proposed tax. Almost all the opposition to the sales tax arose from a general
opposition to any tax increase at all. Other opposition came from concerns
about the need for emergency equipment and the ability of officials to spend
the funds wisely. There was very little talk from citizens about road paving.
--County Commission candidate Gary Jones was vocal in expressing his opposition
to the sales tax, saying politicians in the county wanted to continue deceiving
citizens in order to increase taxes. Jones said once the SPLOST was passed,
then “blackmail” would be used to keep it in place; when time came for it to
expire, politicians would “threaten to raise property taxes unless the sales
tax was extended.” Jones said there was no need for the extra money raised by
the sales tax, saying there was likely no “real need for the equipment” by the
Emergency Services Agency. Volunteer firefighters had lost the chance to get
funding because county commissioners “had it but kept it hid.” Jones said money
could be taken from recreation to pay for the fire and ambulance service. He
also said current county commissioners had no reason to maintain funding for
recreation from the general purpose sales tax because the resolution voted by
citizens in 1992 allowed future commissions to change the funding. Jones is a
Republican candidate for the District 8 commission seat now held by retiring
commissioner Tim Sherrod. The other Republican candidate for that seat, Elaine
May, was also at the meeting and voiced her support for the SPLOST. The other
candidate for the District 8 commission seat, Democrat Joe Fallin, was not at
the meeting.
--Saying that the SPLOST would not be allowed to sunset was a theme of other
speakers at the meeting. One citizen said that even though two other SPLOSTs
had been passed in the county and expired, city and county officials “bullied”
citizens to vote for another SPLOST. The citizen said the county had never gone
back to a 4% sales tax once the extra 1% had been imposed. Another citizen said
he was concerned that the “poor relationship between the city and county has
created a negative attitude among people about the sales tax.” Another citizen,
told that improvement to fire service meant lower fire insurance premiums,
said, “I’d rather pay more in fire insurance rather than more in taxes.”
--The Thomasville City Council meet in workshop session on Wednesday, June 21, and discussed street paving if the sales tax vote passes.Council members talked about charging fees to property owners on streets that would be paved if the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax passes July 18. Mayor Roy Campbell said, "Street paving in the city won't be totally free. It has to be fair for those who have already paid for past paving projects." Previous paving projects have had the city pay one third of the cost, one third by property owners on one side of the street and the other third by property owners on the other side. Depending on the cost of the project, property owners usually paid between $28 and $30 per front foot for paving. If the SPLOST passes, the council is proposing to have property owners pay $7 per front foot. City staff estimated that an average lot owner would pay $350 with provisions available of payments over 3, 6 or 9 years.
--The Thomas County School Board will not call for a vote by citizens this year for imposing a special purpose local option sales tax. The county school superintendent, Dr. Larry Green, said Wednesday, June 21, that an educational SPLOST will not face voters this year, but the board may call for a vote in 2001, possibly in March. Dr.Green said any call this year for an education SPLOST would conflict with efforts to debate the SPLOST called by the county commission for road paving and emergency services. Any call for an educational SPLOST would have to come from both the city and county school boards and any funds raised would be shared. Educators say the systems face increased costs to implement state mandated education reforms that call for lowered student-teacher ratios in lower grades, among other things.
There were two town hall meetings Thursday,
June 29, to talk about the proposed special local option sales tax, one in
Meigs and another in Pavo.
--In Meigs, one resident came to the meeting. That citizen said he was not
generally opposed to the proposed sales tax. He did ask several questions that
he said others had been asking, mostly about the need for sales tax money for
the Emergency Service Agency, whether less expensive equipment could be bought
for the ESA and if the money could be well managed. There were also concerns
expressed by the Meigs citizen about too many resources going to the City of
Thomasville and not enough to the rest of the county. Also at the Meigs meeting
were two city officials from Meigs, County Manager Mike Stephenson and several
staff members of the ESA.
--In Pavo, attendance was considerably more than in Meigs, with about 15
citizens at the meeting and several county commissioners, Mayor Roy Campbell of
Thomasville and staff from the ESA. Reports from the meeting said no one
expressed outright opposition to the sales tax, but several questions were
asked, mostly about the ESA. Some of the questions were about the need for
buying all the fire trucks for the ESA at one time, how would the ESA fund
improvements without the sales tax and how the improved fire protection would
impact insurance rates. There were very few questions about road paving.
There was another in a series of town hall-style meetings about the proposed special purpose local option sales tax Thursday, July 6, in Ochlocknee. It was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and was designed to encourage citizens to vote for the sales tax on July 18. Over a dozen city, county and Emergency Service Agency officials were present. There were six citizens attending, two indicated they were firmly against the proposed sales tax, two said they were in favor and two did not express an opinion. Those opposing the tax said they believed that the local governments did not need anymore taxes from citizens and generally expressed that suspicion the governments were mismanaging the taxes they already collected.
--Reported
by Margaret Clough
There was a town meeting in Boston, Monday, July 10, to discuss the proposed
special purpose local option sales tax. All the tables in the Boston Community
Center were relatively full, with county commissioner Josh Herring commenting
that it was the best turn-out he had seen at a Boston meeting. The town
meeting opened with Don Sims of the Chamber of Commerce running over the SPLOST
plan. Then questioning began with concerns over whether or not the entire
county would benefit from the new sales tax. A citizen of Boston felt
that the community had only been receiving the rejected equipment of the
Thomasville fire department and wanted to be sure that his money would go
towards the improvements of his local fire station. The Fire Chief of the
Boston Volunteer Fire Department assured the townspeople that a fully
serviceable fire truck made in at least the late-1990 would be granted to the
Boston Fire Station, one of two already ordered and expected to arrive in the
next two weeks. Fire officials said Boston is one of the first priorities,
having a less than efficient fire station to date. Boston's fire chief
commented that the best equipment is often given to the Thomasville unit of the
fire department, solely because it is dispatched to all areas of the county in
addition to the Thomasville area. The fire officials said though close
attention is given to this core fire station, all areas are guaranteed to be
thoroughly protected with the funds raised by the sales tax. Officials said 911
is on the list of updates to be made with SPLOST funds. Among the improvements
in 911 is to finally fully integrate the 800 megahertz system to expedite 911
calling. Asked what their main objective is for the Thomas County fire
departments, Fire Chief Joe Cole said it is to obtain Class 7 ratings
county-wide from the ISO in the next two years. By that time, Chief Cole
said he hoped that all new equipment will be activated across the county and a
complete re-rating will be conducted by the ISO. There were questions
about the $1.25 fee on each telephone line already added to phone bills for 911
service. Officials said the SPLOST tax is still necessary in addition to
the 911 fee because emergency service employees are overworked as it is.
Citizens also expressed concerns over the payments promised by the Department
of Transportation. The Commissioner Herring said once the sales tax was
put into effect on January 1, 2001, the match by the state DOT of 75 cents for
every dollar raised by the local sales tax would be issued to the county and
then parceled out to the individual cities to begin road paving. Funds from the
sales tax itself, however, would probably not come to the county until late
March, 2001. Asked of the merchants' reactions to the proposed sales tax,
Don Sims said the current sales tax is only rising from 5 cents to 6 cents on
the dollar, leaving us with the economic advantage over the 7 cent sales tax in
most surrounding areas. He also said the SPLOST would sunset in 2 and a half
years, or sooner if funds were generated in less time than expected. The
closing concern of the Boston townspeople was the impact of growing population.
Herring said that a greater population would mean more people utilizing
emergency services and more wear and tear on roads, equipment, and vehicles.
The emergency dispatch service answered more than 108,000 calls last year and
has already answered 70,000 for the current year--predicting a greater
necessity for more reliable and updated equipment for the future.
Reported by Margaret Clough
With a turnout filling more than half of the small City Hall room, Barwick's
town meeting, Tuesday, July 11, was full of positive commentary about the
proposed SPLOST (special purpose local options sales tax) plan. Though most of
the community was quick to admit that they hate taxes, one hundred percent of
the meeting's attendants were in favor of the new tax. Townspeople themselves
pointed out that we are fortunate enough to live in a county with only a 5 cent
sales tax, so they don't see the other one cent as much of a hassle. One
spokesman for the town commented that he would be glad to pay one cent more if
it meant that he might live longer in Thomas County than he would otherwise
(referring to the new updates planned for local fire stations and 911
services). Mayor Roy Campbell of Thomasville touched on the issue of road
paving, saying that only twelve of the twenty-two roads that were unpaved when
he took office still remain. If the sales tax passes, all roads will be
fully maintained to make it easier for emergency vehicles to travel throughout
the county. The mayor closed the meeting stating that voting for the SPLOST
plan is voting to maintain and enhance the quality of life.
--Seats
were scarce at the Coolidge City Hall for a town meeting on the proposed
special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) Thursday night, July 13.
County Manager Mike Stephenson gave an overview of the SPLOST, which was
followed by a steady stream of questioning by the townspeople. Concerns were
raised relating to a recent Georgia Supreme Court ruling regarding the sunset
of Carroll County's SPLOST. The Court ruled that the funding ceiling that
had been presented to Carroll County’s citizens when the SPLOST was voted on
and passed could be exceeded if it came before the time limit was reached.
Townspeople said the believed the integrity of a sales tax is gone in such an
action. Dom Sims, President of the Chamber of Commerce, stated that the
County Commission also believed such procedures undermined the loyalty of
government. Stephenson said the commission plans to contact the state and take
any other necessary measures to ensure that the original limits are guaranteed.
The Commission indicated strongly at their regular meeting July 11 that
proposed Thomas County SPLOST plan will sunset after reaching $14 million or in
two and a half years, whichever limit comes first, regardless of the Supreme
Court ruling. Stephenson said it was important for the county to show that what
you vote on is what you get. One citizen of Coolidge said he believed that if
there is a need, it must be fulfilled; wants, however, are an entirely
different matter. Much attention was given to the Emergency Services Agency.
County Fire Volunteers said they would like to ensure that the county will
receive the same response time as Thomasville. To do so, however, more first
responders will need to be trained, a program already planned using sales tax
funds. The quicker a patient receives treatment, the less medicine and hospital
time required and the faster they can return to work and get on with their
lives, said one member of the Emergency Service Agency. With more
equipment and more first response units, ESA members said they hoped to provide
help to anyone in the county in under five minutes. Right now there are two stations
located in Thomasville, but the ESA hopes to branch out with several manned
Advanced Life Support Systems throughout the county. Such stations would
provide tools necessary for ventilation, bleeding control, and the monitoring
of vital signs until a paramedic can arrive on the scene. The system
would save valuable time by stabilizing patients and communicating details on
an incident before EMT units reach the patient. Debbie Carver, a Captain
in the ESA’s ambulance service said that not all patients receiving Thomas
County care are citizens of this county. Those individuals as well as the
teachers and hospital employees that commute to Thomasville on a regular basis
make up a percentage of the community that provide benefits to Thomasville's
economy through sales taxes. She said the one cent more that they pay on lunch,
gas, or shopping downtown will allow them to do their part to stabilize their
working community. Some Coolidge townspeople felt Thomasville was getting
too much. Stephenson said that without the support of Thomasville's
business district, the county would not be able to raise these funds at
all. He said he believed that, based on population, funds have been
dispersed fairly and three or four years from now, the entire county will have
an Emergency Services Agency to be proud of. After looking over the proposed
budget for paving roads, a Coolidge citizen said that the sum allocated for
paving roads sounded high until you see how much it would cost to actually
start paving. Other townspeople felt as if they had been threatened in the
past, that if money was not raised through sales taxes, property taxes would
rise. Stephenson said that this could be construed as a threat, but needs had
to be met and the funds would have to come from somewhere. He said no one
could guarantee that property taxes would not go up, but commissioners and
council members alike hoped that voters will base their decisions in the July
18th election on the sales tax alone. A member of the Chamber of Commerce reminded
the crowd that only $8 million will be raised through taxes. The sum of $14
million would only be reached when matched by the state government at 75 cents
for every sales tax dollar raised for roads. Don Sims said this was the
first formal position the Chamber of Commerce has taken in eleven years, and he
claimed it was only because he felt this was the best county in the state. He
said maintenance was required to retain such a title. Several attending said
they hoped that regardless of the outcome of the voting, the turnout would be
record-breaking.
--Reported by Margaret Clough
--Thomas
County voters passed the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax during the
Primary Election Tuesday, July 18. The turnout for Thomas County was 32%. The
sales tax passed all but one election district in the county; that was the
Ochlocknee District where the vote was 114-no to 104-yes. The overall vote was
3,501-yes and 2.359-no, or 60% to 40%.
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