The county’s November vote on whether or not to renew the one-cent SPLOST No. 10 sales tax appears to be developing into a major flashpoint.
During the regularly scheduled Putnam County Board of Commissioners meeting on Aug. 20, several citizens addressed the commission during the public comment period, leading to awkward silences, frustrated speakers, and complaints about the process.
Meanwhile, discussions among the commissioners also delivered similarly uncomfortable moments. District 1 representative Steve Hersey appeared to be set adrift as he advocated for a more fiscally conservative approach to future borrowing and spending.
Essentially, the issue was the council’s majority desire to renew the Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) for another six years and, more controversially, borrow approximately $32 million against its projected revenue in bonds to pay for various county improvements now.
Though not part of the county meeting, the City of Eatonton also has a vested interest in the renewal of SPLOST 10 passing, as it also stands to gain approximately $8 million to $11 million, depending on which numbers are being used at any given time.
Hersey advocated for postponing the SPLOST No. 10 vote from this November’s far-reaching ballot to a smaller ballot next March (while the current SPLOST will still be in force), when the recently deceased Gary McElhenney’s council seat will be filled for the county council to reach a full quorum again.
Hersey reasoned that though a smaller voter pool likely will decide next March’s elections and issues, it will be a better informed, more engaged group of voters, thus worth the wait.
However, Hersey’s motion for a vote on this measure met with the aforementioned uncomfortable silence and no seconds to follow from fellow commissioners Daniel Brown of District 2 and Jeff Wooten of District 4, with County Chairman Bill Sharp also voting in the negative.
Several other issues were also discussed, including Oconee Overlook LLC's request for a permit to remove at least three large trees from a county right-of-way near a construction entrance for the Len Resort, which is under early construction off Collis Road on the eastern edge of the county alongside Lake Oconee.
Both construction consultant Rick McAllister and developer Josh Sprayberry addressed the commission, explaining that trees hindered access to large equipment necessary for building a granite seawall for the resort.
Again, Hersey was the odd man out, as he asked if county building permits had been secured. The answer was that Georgia Power, which owns Lakes Oconee and Sinclair and dictates all seawalls and other lakeside structures such as boat houses, had issued a permit for the seawall, so now a right-of-way permit from the commission was warranted. Again, Hersey was outvoted 3-1, as the permit was approved.
The commission also heard from Putnam County Fire Chief Thomas McClain, who described how water delivery from a nearby pond would be used for fire protection if ever needed at Maddox Station, a 54-home development to be built alongside Old Phoenix Road.
The commissioners unanimously voted to allow Sharp as chairman to sign off on the development’s final plat.
Eventually, the meeting circled back to the SPLOST No. 10 issue, with Hersey continuing to call for a delay in voting on it until March 2025.
He argued that voters in November will be there only to vote for their preferred presidential candidate and suggested that “less than one percent” of voters will understand all the issues tacked on to that ballot. Waiting to vote on SPLOST No. 10 when voters select a new District 4 commissioner would provide a more educated, accurate electorate for the issue, Hersey claimed.
“I would like to make the motion that we postpone this resolution and the call for an election until a District 1 commissioner has been seated,” he concluded.
Silence. With no second, Sharp and the other two district commissioners voted to go forward with the SPLOST No. 10 vote on November’s ballot.
“There are a lot of good projects in this SPLOST, and I don’t really want to slow it up. I place confidence in our county attorney, our chairman, our county manager that they’ve adequately enough followed protocol for us to get it in this election and I’m going to go ahead and put it before the voters and let them decide,” District 2’s Brown said in support of the measure. “I want to see those good things happen at Putnam County. I want to see the hospital healthy. There’s a lot of good things in that SPLOST and to debate and put it off, I think that Putnam County would be the loser.”