Dear editor,
Several years ago, the voters of Greene County voted “NO” on whether to approve ESPLOST (Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). The reason? The voters were dissatisfied with the allocation and management of funds during the previous ESPLOST. How do projects under ESPLOST get selected? Who decides how much money should be allocated to the projects? Who is accountable for getting the projects done? Not until ESPLOST proponents committed to greater transparency and established a public oversight committee to monitor ESPLOST expenditures versus plan and budget, did the voters approve another ESPLOST. The proponents of the SPLOST extension on the ballot for the March 18 election should take notice.
The justification provided for this SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) is a potpourri of projects across many county departments. There is no report on SPLOST money spent to date and what was accomplished. There are no priorities distinguishing which new projects are most important. There are no commitments to completion dates. There is no apparent ownership accountability as to who is responsible for what. And there is no mechanism for oversight of active projects to give the voters confidence the taxpayers’ money will be spent effectively and efficiently.
Without proper controls, we should not approve this extension. Fortunately, the county leadership has a full year to clean up this proposal before the current SPLOST expires.
Gerry Giesler Greensboro