County looking at quality of life projects in SPLOST
Polk County Commissioners have come up with a new idea for use of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax money, and plans to give both the Cedartown and Rockmart area project funds to use as citizens sees fit.
Commissioner Scotty Tillery announced during the Oct. 1 work session that after long discussions between board members that go back two years, a decision was finally reached to allow for a project idea to move forward to give both sides of the county a Quality of Life project within the 2020 SPLOST.
Some $300,000 each is being pledged from the fund up for an extension vote on the November ballot from local citizens, and instead of the commissioners deciding what the projects will entail the county wants citizen committees to undertake the decision.
“We know that we need to do more to increase the quality of life opportunities we have,” Tillery said during the announcement.
He added the projects would still have to meet all the SPLOST qualifications and rules, and “would have to fit in one of the categories” of the 2020 funding.
“We’re also requiring that we’d have two town hall meetings to take additional information and ideas from the community,” Tillery said.
Committees would be appointed after representatives from both sides of the county are chosen by the commission, and then would be left to do their work without interference. Tillery also said the cities of Cedartown, Rockmart and Aragon would also be sought for input on potential quality of life project ideas.
“We want to get info out there, and take in more ideas of what people want to see that maybe we haven’t seen yet,” Tillery said.
Additional details about the project are still forthcoming, he added.
County Commissioners don’t have to vote anytime soon on any project ideas, but when they come to fruition it would require approval to spend the funds.
The board is trying a different approach to how SPLOST funds are traditionally spent, with categories pre-determined based on future needs of departments like those in Public Safety arenas, who need to periodically trade in old vehicles and purchase new patrol vehicles for the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office, or new trucks for Polk County’s Volunteer Fire Department.
SPLOST has also been used in the past for a variety of different ways, from the new Public Works facility
to providing equipment for the county’s emergency radio system.
With the announcement of the two quality of life projects to be determined, Commission Chair Jennifer Hulsey said in follow-up after Tillery’s announcement that the change will give additional voice to taxpayers.
“I think it’s good, and our board really wants to have the citizen’s input,” Hulsey said. “It’s hard to do really quick, but we’re starting somewhere.”
Commissioner Hal Floyd added his vote of confidence to the idea.
“We’re not just going t0 keep doing the routine same old same old, but have some vision about the future and what we can do about quality of life,” Floyd said. “And more than anything let’s listen to the citizens.”
The pledge of the $300,000 for each side of the county could come from a number of categories within SPLOST, depending on what committees choose to move forward with as an idea.
Voters will decide in November whether to extend the fund through 2026 after it runs out in 2020 for another $32 million draw, divided up between the county and the cities of Cedartown, Rockmart and Aragon.