Catoosa County Manager Mike HeltonCatoosa County, Ga., voters today approved a local option tax of 1 cent per $1 of sales to fund a laundry list of projects.
Catoosa's special purpose local option sales tax had the support of 73 percent of voters, with 1,193 votes in favor and 442 opposed.
"People have said, 'If we're going to have to pay for things, we like doing it this way,'" Catoosa County Manager Mike Helton said.
A total of 1,635 votes were cast by Catoosa County's 41,806 registered voters - a total of just under 4 percent.
The Catoosa County SPLOST will fund some $60 million in spending, ranging from $2.2 million in renovations to the historic county courthouse in downtown Ringgold and $12.4 million in sewer upgrades in the West Chickamauga, Peavine and Ringgold creek basins to 68 new sheriff patrol cars over the five-year period - or almost 14 cruisers per year.
For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.