What last week's sales tax failures tells us about the state of North Georgia politics

March 24, 2019 at 1:01 a.m. | Updated April 2, 2019 at 12:40 p.m.

by Tyler Jett

Protestors of a new Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax hold signs before the Catoosa County Commission meeting at the Catoosa County Administration Building Tuesday, February 19, 2019, in Ringgold, Georgia. The TSPLOST was proposed as a way for the county to bring in a projected $60 million in revenue over the next five years for work on roads and bridges.

DALTON, Ga. - Whitfield County Commission Chair Lynn Laughter knew her effort to renew a sales tax referendum was deeply in trouble about a month ago, when she invited residents to tour an old government building.

Laughter invited members of the community to tour Administration Building #2, where the accountability courts meet. A former church, Laughter said the downtown building is about 80 years old. The basement floods, the toilets don't flush and the HVAC system continually breaks.

If voters approved the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax on a referendum, the commissioners promised to tear down the old building and construct a new home for the courts. But that night, Laughter recalled, only about a dozen people showed up.

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