An aerial view of Lake Winnepesaukah park in Lakeview, Ga.RINGGOLD, Ga. – Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park took a step Monday afternoon toward getting an estimated $85,050 tax break from Catoosa County, Ga., for the construction of a five-acre water park.
The Catoosa County Development Authority unanimously gave its endorsement for the tax abatement after husband-and-wife Tommy and Tennyson Dickinson, members of the family that owns Lake Winnie, predicted the new water park would generate $102,980 in county sales tax in its first year — meaning the county would net $17,930 after the tax break.
“Most things take years to pay back,” Tommy Dickinson told the economic authority board. “This is a net plus in the first year.”
Over five years, the county would see a net gain of $1.2 million in sales taxes even after the initial tax break that would last six months to a year, Tommy Dickinson said.
He based those figures on a financial impact report prepared for the park by William Legg, who teaches economics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.