Measure must be passed by voters in coming election
In a short meeting, the leaders of the cities of Ellijay, East Ellijay and Gilmer County agreed to move forward on renewing the current SPLOST.
SPLOST stands for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which in this case is one cent added to the sales tax in Gilmer County.
This SPLOST is currently included in the seven cent sales tax in effect in Gilmer County, four cents go to the state and three are local.
Gilmer County receives 92 percent of the one cent, Ellijay gets 6 percent and East Ellijay receives 2 percent.
For Gilmer County, the majority of the SPLOST is used to pay the roughly $4 million bond payments owed by the county. Any remainder is used for roads, said Gilmer County Chair Charlie Paris.
Paris said the SPLOST is paid by visitors and residents alike, but according to state projections he has seen in the past, 60 percent of the revenue comes from visitors to the county.
If the SPLOST were not in effect, the county millage rate would have to be raised 1.5 mils to produce enough revenue to pay for the bonds, said Gilmer County Chief Financial Officer Sandi Holden.
Both city councils must agree to the revenue split, and then the boards can move toward preparing the issue to possibly appear on the November ballot.