The voters of the county should not vote to approve a new 1% Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) unless the City of Dawsonville agrees to a much lower share of that tax and agrees to a much lower share of the 1% Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). If the City share is reduced, those funds can be shifted to the Sheriff to provide more security to the whole of the county without increasing taxes.
LOST taxes may be spent for just about anything. The SPLOST taxes must be spent on capital items like new buildings and other capital items. The City gets 14% of the LOST and about the same for the SPLOST. The bulk of those taxes are collected from the commercial section at 400. The City generates only between about 3% to 5 % of those funds.
Letter to the Editor: Sales Tax and Security