Polls open March 19 for Catoosa County's special election on a new 1-percent sales tax to pay for road paving and other transportation-related projects.
County officials say the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax will generate $60 million over five years, to be split between Catoosa, Fort Oglethorpe and Ringgold based on their populations.
Over the last year, the three entities combined have received an average of about $860,000 a month from a similar 1-percent sales tax dedicated to education.
Representatives from local government have said funds from the proposed new levy could help remedy traffic-related safety hazards, help the county prepare its roads for the thousands expected to come to the area over the next decade, and potentially even lighten property tax bills a bit.
Some community members, however, are giving the new tax a thumbs-down.
We asked three random residents their thoughts:
"Catoosa government has a history of underhandedness in its SPLOST referendums.
"In 2018, a general election year, they scheduled the SPLOST vote for the primary instead of the general election. The SPLOST passed.
"In the primary, only 5,284 voted. In the general, 23,837 voted.
"We can assume, from the above totals, the majority of voters are independents. They probably never thought there would be a vote on anything other than party candidates. Therefore, 18,533 independents did not get a chance to vote on the SPLOST question.
"Now the Catoosa government is doing the same thing with a referendum on March 19 for an additional new SPLOST. I would think that the great majority of voters would never expect an election to be held in March. So we have tainted democracy in Catoosa County."
- Dana Wilson, Catoosa resident
"Catoosa voters reauthorized an existing SPLOST tax renewal in 2017, a full 18 months before it was to sunset. In January 2018, Catoosa commissioners met with the department heads to budget for those estimated funds. The Public Works department submitted a budget of $13.6 million and a solid plan for needed paving over the five years of the tax collection period. The commissioners cut that budget by $2.2 million and put that money into 'economic development.'
"This is not a revenue problem; it's a matter of priorities."
- Denise Burns, Catoosa resident
"The primary reason that I oppose TSPLOST is because, in my view, the County Commission has been wasteful with our tax dollars, and have not been truthful with us in the past. It's time to force the Commission to be responsible with our tax dollars, or they should be voted out."
- Jeff Holcomb, Catoosa resident
* The opinions expressed in Community Voices do not represent the views of North Georgia Community News.
- Compiled by Myron Madden