County, towns to meet Monday on sales tax negotiations

Banks County officials will meet with representatives from towns in the county on Monday to discuss the negotiations for the local option sales tax (LOST).
The meeting will be held at 3 p.m. at the courthouse annex board room.

County leaders will be meeting with representatives from the cities of Alto, Baldwin, Gillsville, Homer, Lula and Maysville to renegotiate the sales tax distribution.
City leaders have already met to discuss the issue and air concerns that the formula being proposed by the county is not fair.

At the town meeting, Lula City Manager Dennis Bergin presented information on the legislation that was passed in 1994 which requires cities and counties to periodically renegotiate their revenue distribution arrangements. In the original proposal by Banks County, the cities would collectively loose $1.2 million over a 10-year period. Bergin said in determining the percentages for the LOST allocations the county used a modified population and commercial digest. Bergin said the cities want to re-negotiate a formula that works for the county and all of the cities involved.

BOC chairman Milton Dalton wrote in a letter to the town officials that the county believes the proposed formula is fair.

“The county thinks the proposals offered the cities were fair and equitable and in the best interest of all citizens of Banks County,” Dalton said.