Albany, Dougherty County commissions hold joint meeting on SPLOST VII

ALBANY — The Albany and Dougherty County commissions laid the groundwork for the continuation of special-purpose local-option sales tax collections in the city and county for the next six years during a joint meeting Wednesday at the Albany Civic Center.

County Attorney Spencer Lee explained the legal processes of the special 1 percent tax collection, noting that an agreement between the city and county must be reached by July 29 to secure six more years of SPLOST with no cap on the amount collected. Once an agreement is reached, the county would call a special meeting on Aug. 1 to approve a resolution calling for imposition of the tax, and the Board of Elections would also hold a special called meeting that same day to call for a special election.

The SPLOST referendum would appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

The city currently receives 64 percent of SPLOST funds collected, the county 36 percent.

“Dougherty County is one of 159 ‘special districts’ in the state of Georgia,” Lee told members of the two commissions. “It is, therefore, the county’s duty to take action necessary to call an election on Nov. 8 for the purpose of submitting a SPLOST referendum to qualified voters in the county for their approval.

“The deadline for these two boards to approve an intergovernmental agreement to collect the SPLOST taxes for six years and no cap is July 29. Then the county must approve a resolution calling for imposition of the tax on Aug. 1. Those are the two critical dates we have. Once we’ve taken care of these matters, the process will be turned over to the Board of Elections.”

City and county officials estimate taxes collected over the lifetime of SPLOST VII, if it is approved by voters, would be $92.5 million. Using that figure at the current split, the city would receive $59.2 million in special taxes, the county $33.3 million.

County Administrator Richard Crowdis and City Manager Sharon Subadan gave an overview of recommended county and city projects during Wednesday’s joint meeting. Both governing bodies’ “wish lists” were heavy on infrastructure improvements.

“SPLOST has passed six times in our city and county, and that has allowed us to do miraculous things to improve our community,” Mayor Dorothy Hubbard said in closing remarks. “We’ve heard about many projects that we’ll consider, and we look forward to discussing them further and getting the required agreement to the Election Board in a timely manner.”

County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said the joint meeting allowed both governing bodies to lay out improvement plans for citizens.

“This was a good presentation,” Cohilas said. “This gave us an opportunity to jointly show our citizens what, if they pass the SPLOST referendum on Nov. 8, we plan to do with the funds collected. I think it’s quite clear that the plan of both the city and county is to improve infrastructure throughout the entire city and county.”