Friday, August 15, 2003

SPLOST voted down in Fulton

At last week's meeting, the majority of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted against a resolution that would have led to a referendum to impose a special one percent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST).

Citing the impact on businesses and citizens, especially seniors, low- and middle-income persons, five members of the board voted against the resolution.

Had a SPLOST referendum been successful, Fulton County's sales tax would have been eight percent, the highest in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

Revenues from the proposed increase would have been used for Atlanta water/sewer improvements and other capital projects identified by municipalities.

Research cited by Fulton Finance Director Patrick O'Connor indicated that localities which increase their sales taxes can experience an average revenue decrease of 6.3 percent when surrounding localities do not increase their sales tax rates.For the Fulton County General Fund, this projected revenue loss would have totaled $4.1 million.