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Cities disagree over support for SPLOST

Members of the Association of Fayette County Governments were encouraged last week to follow Fayetteville’s lead and pass resolutions endorsing the upcoming Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for road construction.

But there was disagreement over whether such action is even legal.

In the quarterly meeting of the county’s elected officials, Fayetteville Mayor Kenneth Steele pointed out that his City Council had passed a resolution earlier this month in support of the SPLOST, which would raise an estimated $116 million over five years to fund the county’s long-range Transportation Plan.

“I think it’s incumbent upon us to work together for the good of the county,” said Steele. “It’s time for us as leaders of the community to take a stand either for or against the SPLOST.”

But Mayor Steve Brown of Peachtree City said his city’s legal counsel had issued an opinion that such an endorsement was not proper.

Replied Steele, “We don’t agree with your attorney’s position.”

Peachtree City Attorney Ted Meeker said he could not comment on the action taken by Fayetteville because he wasn’t familiar with it.

“My interpretation of state law is you’re not supposed to use city resources or time to either support or go against a ballot item or candidate,” said Meeker on Monday. “So in that regard, my view is it wasn’t wise for the council to show support for or against it.”

County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn called Meeker’s interpretation “extreme.”

“Our understanding has always been that you can’t spend money” to promote passage of a initiative, Dunn said.

Meeker said that using staff time even to draft a resolution would qualify as “spending money.”

Brown has been vocal about the manner in which SPLOST revenue would be divided among Fayette County’s cities should voters approve the initiative on Nov. 2. But he hasn’t publicly encouraged defeat of the SPLOST, either.

School board member Janet Smola, who was also at the government meeting, said she would check with the Board of Education’s attorneys to find out if it would be improper for them to endorse the SPLOST.

But Monday night, the Board of Education met for the final meeting before the Nov. 2 election and took no action on the matter.

Smola pointed out that by law, the board has to walk a fine line when sponsoring a bond referendum so it doesn’t appear they are promoting passage. She said that in deciding to pursue the bond vote, the board was very aware that the SPLOST issue would share the ballot.

“We didn’t want to do harm to the SPLOST initiative,” she said. “We transport 22,000 students daily on these same roads that are part of your plan, so it is in our best interest to support this.”

Meanwhile, Dunn tried to clear the air on a number of rumors he said were circulating about the SPLOST.

“People are saying we’re going to raise property taxes if this fails, and that’s simply not true,” Dunn said. “There’s no possibility we’d raise taxes. In fact, we’ve talked very specifically about not doing that.”

Voters have one more opportunity to get information on the SPLOST and ask questions in the third and final public forum on the issue.

Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the Q&A session is set for 7 p.m. today at F.A. Sams Auditorium in Fayetteville.

Tim Peece of the URS Corporation, the consultant hired by the county to develop the long-range transportation plan, will be in attendance to answer questions.

For more information, call the chamber at 770-461-9983.