An intergovernment stalemate over Habersham County’s proposed transportation special local option sales tax threatens to curtail county plans for the tax. Tallulah Falls has still not signed on to an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that would allow the county to put a full penny-on-the-dollar tax on the ballot in November. Without the town’s participation, Habersham County will have to scale back the size of the SPLOST and the projects it could fund.
Disagreement over IGA
Tallulah Falls is one of seven municipalities in Habersham County that must sign an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the county for the proposed transportation special local option sales tax to move forward at the full one-percent rate. If Tallulah Falls does not sign an IGA, the county would have to lower its referendum proposal to three-quarters of a penny.
A full penny-on-the-dollar tax would generate around $44 million over five years to pay for transportation-related projects. If Tallulah Falls does not agree to it, that amount would drop to approximately $33,000,000. That gives Tallulah Falls a lot of power and, according to county officials, Tallulah Falls Mayor Mike Early is wielding it.
The county supplied to Now Habersham a copy of an email Mayor Early sent to Vaughn asking that, in exchange for signing an IGA, the county “cover the cost of the town’s [emergency] radio equipment and waive the maintenance fees for that equipment.”
In the email, which shows it was copied to members of the Tallulah Falls City Council, city clerk, and city attorney, Early states Tallulah Falls stands to lose money if T-SPLOST is approved. If the county pays for the radio equipment, it would help offset that loss.
“By our estimation, this equates to around only 4% of the nearly $10 million that the county stands to gain from our signing the IGA in exchange for our sacrificing around 25% of what we would receive if we don’t sign.”
Mayor Early goes on to explain the inherent “unfairness” of using a population-based model for the distribution of funds in a town with limited growth options.
“We have large swaths of undevelopable and uninhabitable land in our town, some of which is being taxed by the county, yet we don’t receive a representative return on those parcels simply because the county keeps wanting to use a population-based model for distribution,” the email states.
Stalemate
The town of Tallulah Falls is located in both Habersham and Rabun counties and encompasses one of the state’s most popular natural tourist sites, Tallulah Gorge. Each year Early says 600,000 people visit the gorge, and Tallulah Falls fire and police are the primary response teams to emergencies there.
“These incidents require us to have a robust and reliable radio communication system in place,” the email states. “The county helping offset this expense for us is a direct service to those 600,000 people that spend money at the stores and hotels in the county and other cities.”
The email indicates Vaughn rejected the request on the premise that if the county were to provide radios and cover maintenance fees for Tallulah Falls, it would have to do it “for everyone.” The stalemate leaves the IGA and, ultimately, T-SPLOST in limbo. Vaughn is scheduled to meet with municipal representatives on July 26 to try and hash out an agreement before the August 5 deadline.
Forging ahead
In the meantime, the county is forging ahead with plans to put the proposed sales tax increase before voters this fall. County officials held the latest in a series of town hall meetings Wednesday night to discuss the proposed referendum. Fewer than a dozen people showed up for the meeting at Habersham EMC in Clarkesville. County Manager Vaughn, Public Works Director Jerry Baggett and commissioner Bruce Palmer were among the officials present.
The July 20 gathering was the latest and last in a series of previously announced town halls about the proposed penny on the dollar tax. More may be forthcoming. The county has yet to define specific projects to be funded by the measure which, if approved, would raise the county sales tax from 7% to 8%. Vaughn says they’re still developing a list of projects, incorporating input from municipal leaders and county residents.
WATCH July 20 T-SPLOST Town Hall
VIEW T-SPLOST Town Hall Powerpoint
Earlier this month, Habersham posted a survey on its website and emailed a copy of it to county newsletter subscribers on July 20, asking for input. Like the current T-SPLOST proposal, the survey is vague. It asks citizens to rank their priorities for how to spend T-SPLOST funds and lists the following five options:
- Road safety improvements
- General road and bridge repair
- Walking trails and bike paths
- Paving dirt roads
- Road projects to promote retail development
The survey goes on to ask about satisfaction with county roads and whether the survey-taker is likely to vote in favor of what the county refers to as its Roads and Bridges SPLOST. The county has received over 400 responses, according to Vaughn.
