Flexibility counseled for parking ordinance
With an upcoming vote on Gilmer’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), the Gilmer County commission’s members made a few clarifications about the measure.
Currently, there is a 1 percent SPLOST sales tax. This tax helps pay bond debt and fund improvements to the county.
The county commissioners estimate that the tax will raise $74 million over the next six years.
Given county growth rates, this estimate has a “firm foundation,” Chair Charlie Paris said in their Wednesday, Oct. 15 meeting.
Gilmer County’s proposed SPLOST ordinance allows tax money to go to various needs. If a natural disaster, emergency or opportunity occurs, the county is free to use the money accordingly.
“We don’t know, right now, everything that may come up that would be a good idea,” Paris said.
The proposed SPLOST will be in place for six years.
If the tax passes, the county will wait get a sense of how much money it will raise. Then, the county will sell bonds and use the money it receives to build improvements. As of now, there isn’t an exact timetable, Paris said.
As the SPLOST money comes in over the next six years, the county will repay the bonds.
This plan will allow them to begin building improvements sooner.
After the measure passes, the commissioners will be able to get a better estimate of how much it will raise.
In response to concerns about the financial responsibility of this plan, the county commissioners motioned that projects funded by this SPLOST tax shouldn’t extend beyond the expiration date of the tax.
The motion passed.
The county commission also had a first reading for a new parking ordinance.
This law is a response to people parking their cars on the side of major county roadways.
People parking on roadsides risk causing car accidents, Paris said. Currently, the county has no law against it, he added.
“We have situations where people are parking on a closed driveway, and in some cases blocking things,” he said.
Law enforcement officers enforcing this law will be expected to use their discretion, he said.
The county commissioners also read a letter from the Gilmer County Fire Department praising the efforts of Officer Jimmy Jones in finding Charles Hyde, a missing person. He received a certificate of commendation for “exceptional dedicated service.”
The commissioners also recognized the work of school bus drivers and their success in keeping the county’s students safe on the way to school.
At the meeting, the county also adopted a revised zoning map, an amended organizational chart, applied for a DNR Georgia Stewardship Program grant and adopted a capital improvement plan.