Whitfield County committee evaluating project for 2024 SPLOST
DALTON, Ga. (WDEF) – A committee in Whitfield County is in the process of evaluating what could be the next step of improvements from a future SPLOST tax.
A SPLOST tax, an acronym for a Special-Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, is a unique tax only allowed in Georgia.
Voted on every couple of years by voters across the state in their local municipalities, this SPLOST tax is designed to generate revenue for a multiple of projects.
In Whitfield County, the current SPLOST tax, voted on in 2020, is a 1 percent sales tax.
This means for every dollar spent, a cent will be added that would go directly to a project fund.
Whitfield County estimates that the 2020 SPLOST tax will generate in the neighborhood of $66 million of revenue.
he 2020 Whitfield County SPLOST tax funded a variety of projects across the area, including the brand-new Riverbend Park which just opened a couple of weeks ago.
Whitfield County Chairman Jevin Jensen added that, “For example the Courthouse where we are today, we have spent a lot of time modernizing it, bringing it into the 21st Century. All of our records are digital, they’re stored in the cloud. We have audio, video not just for the courtrooms but for the Board of Commissioners meetings.”
A committee of 15 citizens from across Whitfield County have been hearing proposals of what a potential 2024 SPLOST tax could fund.
These include upgrades to county and city parks such as Westside Park in Rocky Face and the Dalton Civic Park.
Additionally, there have been proposals to add sidewalks to North Thornton Avenue in Dalton and replace a bridge on Underwood Street.
These are just some of many proposals the committee will have to tackle.
Chairman Jensen said, “They’ve been really aggressive, they said, “Let’s meet every week.” So, the cities and the counties have been presenting possible projects for them to select, more projects than they can support, so they’ll have to decide the priority projects.”
The SPLOST tax does have to be passed by a public referendum.
That vote in Whitfield County will be held on May 21, 2024, during Georgia’s primary elections.
