Putnam Co. voters to decide fate of SPLOST 10

Published 12:30 pm Tuesday, November 5, 2024

EATONTON, Ga. — Hundreds of residents in Putnam County cast ballots during the early voting period for local political candidates as well as for the continuation of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) 10 for the Nov. 5 General Election.

Those who did not vote early by last Friday’s deadline now have only today (Tuesday) to cast ballots in the election. Polls will be open throughout Eatonton and Putnam County for voters to cast their ballots. 

Aside from local and state political candidates seeking either re-election to offices or seeking to win public office for the first time, voters will be asked to decide a major referendum question on the ballot.

Even though it’s a simple “yes” or “no” question, it carries with it major implications depending on the outcome Tuesday night when all the votes have been tallied, including absentee ballots.

Putnam County Commission Chairman Bill Sharp and County Manager Paul Van Haute recently talked with The Union-Recorder to give a perspective about the issue.

Sharp said he has tried his best to listen to both sides when it comes to the continuation of the one-cent SPLOST 10.

“I’ve tried my best to listen to the people who have opposite views about this issue,” Sharp said. “I realize some people are supportive of this referendum while others are highly opposed to it.”

The commission chairman said he and Van Haute had been working together to help educate voters about the proposed referendum, regardless of whether they support it or not.

The bottom line is the Putnam County Board of Commissioners are hoping to generate $32 million over the next six years if voters approve the continuation of SPLOST 10. It would run from 2025 through 2031.

One of the biggest proposed projects, if SPLOST 10 is approved, would be major renovations of the Putnam County Jail in Eatonton.

“That is a Tier One Project, which means Sheriff Howard R. Sills can collect 20 percent off the top,” Van Haute said, noting the jailhouse and courthouse are among projects that fit into such a category. “It’s going to renovate the existing office and non-jail space into strictly jail space.”

Tentative plans call for the administration offices, including that of a new office for the sheriff to be located to another facility, which still has yet to be determined at this time, Sharp said.

Asked why there is negativity from voters who do not support SPLOST 10, Van Haute responded.

“We did something on this SPLOST where we put the ability to borrow money in here,” Van Haute said. “Ideally, I would have preferred if we had put $10 million in there, but we just bonded the whole $32 million.”

Van Haute said those who do not support this year’s proposed SPLOST are upset because they see the county going out to borrow another $32 million.

“We’re not doing that, whatsoever,” Sharp said. 

The county manager said empathically that such was 100 percent wrong.

“We’re not going to go out and borrow $32 million,” Van Haute said.

He explained that the way it was written, it gave the county the ability to borrow that maximum amount. But both men said the county was not going in that direction.

For example, Van Haute said, “We’re not going to go out and buy cars in 2025 for 2031. We can do those pay as we go.”

The same is true when the county needs to purchase new fire trucks.

“We buy them every two years when the money (from the sales tax) rolls in,” Van Haute said.

For years, county officials throughout Georgia have contended that the breakdown on sales tax being generated by a county is set up on a scale of 65-35 percent, meaning that a large part of it comes from people who shop in those counties but do not actually live there.

“I’ve heard that all my life in training sessions,” Van Haute said.

Sharp said he recently was heavily criticized at a meeting.

“They said I didn’t have any backup for those figures,” Sharp said. “And the truth is I don’t have the actual numbers, but it’s not because I haven’t tried to get them because I have.”

Van Haute said those opposed to the proposed SPLOST have focused on things like those numbers.

SPLOST was first born in the mid 1990s in Putnam County, Van Haute recalled. In the years that followed, there has never been a single time that SPLOST has been defeated in Putnam County.

“It’s a very fair tax and one we hope continues here in our county,” Sharp said.

Both officials were asked if this year’s proposed SPLOST were to be rejected by voters, what would happen? How would the county get the funds they need to do certain projects, like the major renovations at the county jail and acquiring property for a new sheriff’s office administration site?

“Since the sheriff needs his jail renovated, we would start, and there would be no messing around about it because it’s needed,” Van Haute said.

Van Haute said should SPLOST fail, the county could seek it again next year.

Sheriff Sills currently has several holding cells within the jail, but no restroom facilities.

“So, every time an inmate has to go to the restroom, it takes two or three jail officers to go with that inmate,” Van Haute said, noting it becomes an automatic safety issue. “It’s really concerning when folks would consider not allowing this to happen over a bonding amount issue that’s unknown or unused. It’s their imagination going down the road.”

Sharp said if SPLOST was defeated Tuesday, county officials would then go back to the drawing board to see what could be done going forward. They could even decide to try to go back to the voters with a new proposal next year.

“We’ll have to do something because the longer we wait to do something, the more expensive things become because of inflation,” Sharp said.