The committee will hear proposals and make recommendations on public projects and capital purchases to be funded by a possible 1-cent special purpose, local option sales tax.
City and county officials would have the final say on the package, which is slated to be finalized in September and put to a vote in the Nov. 5 general election. The 2009 SPLOST collection will end June 30.
“These people are of all ages and are a diverse group,” Commissioner Rhonda Wallace said. “I’ve talked to each one of them, and they are all excited to be able to serve.”
Appointed to serve as the county’s representatives are Jim Bojo, Brad Doyle, Jim Howell, Eric Hunt, Leigh Rush and Greta Willoughby.
The board also announced the Cave Spring City Council’s appointee, JC Boehm, and Profile Extrusion Co. general manager David Newby was approved to chair the committee.
The chairman is a joint appointee of the Floyd County and Rome City commissions. The City Commission will make its SPLOST Committee announcement, including the names of four representatives, in the coming days.
Floyd County Commission Chairman Irwin Bagwell advised that they present its representatives with some guidelines for choosing projects.
“We want to make sure that the projects they come up with are capital in nature and do not have ongoing expenses,” Bagwell said.
The county and city put forth a $32.4 million SPLOST package to voters last March, but it was defeated at the polls.
Interim County Manager Gary Burkhalter, who was the county’s finance director at the time, said it was a different package than they had ever done before.
“The state allowed us to put things in there that were more operational-type costs that had been in our operating budgets for years,” he said. “That was a switch from doing mainly capital projects and equipment.”
The County Commission also approved the hiring of Latta Technical Services Inc. to analyze and audit the specific needs of the Floyd County Jail concerning its electronic controls.
Time and use has made parts of the system, including cell locks, fall behind the standards for the facility.
According to Burkhalter, the approximately $31,000 needed to fund the study has been offered by Floyd County Sheriff Tim Burkhalter in a transfer from the county jail surcharge fund.
“I think this is the best route for us to go to determine what our overall needs are to update our controls at the jail,” said Noah Simon, assistant county manager.
Simon said the firm will also make sure that whatever the county purchases will not be obsolete in two or three years.
People vote yes for every education splost when all they get is a prioritized list of project that will be done if there's enough money. The government splosts have definite lists, and the projects get done...but there's always some old person whining about Lock and Dam, which couldn't be done anyway because GE's PCBs are all in there and the feds said no.
SMH
Here's a couple of alternatives for our leadership:
1. Everyone that voted "yes" on the Georgia Splost should be given an envelope to mail their one percent tax hike to the goverment. It is what they voted for...
2. Let's see a referendum to temporarily cut entitlement programs by a mere 1% to fund special projects. Everyone needs to do their part, right?
3. How about a SPLOST to fund a cut in local business taxes? Have you seen what it costs to hire someone these days? Fed/State employment, state unemployment, each employee raises your city business license, medicare, social security, etc... Most of these politicians promise jobs, right?
4. How about a SPLOST to tax medical malpractice awards? These guys seem to love taxes and this would raise revenue while removing some incentive to sue our healthcare costs even higher.
Maybe I'll take these ideas and run one day. Would you vote for me? Until then, these ideas are free to pass to our leaders.
Sorry, you're not quite ready for elected office yet. You first need to brush up on the SPLOST law and see what items can be funded with SPLOST and which ones cannot. Of the ideas you suggested, not a single one could be funded with SPLOST dollars. Now, go do your homework.
Another problem is the abuse of it in the past to buy millions of dollars of astroturf and then telling everyone they can't use it unless they pay, purchasing mega-sports complexes in Armuchee that can't be used when it rains because the roof leaks onto the basketball courts, and annually tying one useful project in with a bunch of pet projects.
If you have a pet project, like a sewer line for instance, do it the old fashioned way. Get elected to county commission, vote in the sewer line, then get out of the county commission.
Ever see a cigarette addict doing without because they just don't have the money for cigarettes? I don't think so.
Drive by the projects and look at the makes and models of cars in the parking lots.
I am not buying the "We so broke" routine.