Dear Editor,
In November, a question regarding SPLOST No. 10 will be on the ballot. This proposal would continue a one-penny sales tax (over six years) used to fund capital projects, not daily operating costs.
Unfortunately, our commissioners (excluding Dr. Hersey) have approved for this to be automatically tied to a bond where they can borrow $32 million. Thus, it is a poison pill. Factoring in the recent bond to pave roads, passing this will put our county close to $60 million in debt.
While I am not a proponent of acquiring debt for our county, the road bond made sense because our county could borrow to have all the funds available and search for a company contract to pave the roads while getting a better deal due to the enormous scope of the task at hand (versus a few streets).
SPLOST No. 10 is a series of much smaller projects unrelated to one sole vendor, many of a sequential nature, so a large bond issue doesn’t make sense. For instance, you don’t want the sheriff to buy 30 vehicles at once when buying five vehicles annually over six years makes more sense.
We could do two-thirds of the projects as the revenue comes in. An adjusted bond of $10 million to pay for the jail renovation might make sense, but that is off the table. The commissioners were unwilling to budge on borrowing all $32 million when Dr. Hersey tried to get a second vote to allow the conversation.
The larger issue is the funds this penny sale tax will bring in have been grossly overestimated by approximately $8 million based on the current revenue the tax is bringing in. Who does that? Unfortunately, County Chairman Bill Sharp, District 2 Commissioner Daniel Brown, and District 4 Commissioner Jeff Wooten.
Personally, I have numerous wish list items for my household that are on the back burner as I cannot afford them today. I am not recklessly making assumptions about future pay increases that I would borrow large amounts of money [against] to acquire what I want.
I am sad our board of commissioners (excluding Dr. Hersey) is, in fact, reckless. These same commissioners also overestimated possible funds with the road bond, and when the county comes up short on all these estimates, property owners will be left with the tab.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.”
I urge you to educate your friends and family about SPLOST No. 10 and the poison pill of adding another $32 million in debt, bringing our county's total bond debt to nearly $60 million.
Please vote NO to SPLOST No. 10, and let our commissioners know we will not accept them burying us in debt.SPLOST #10 can be visited at a later date when our BOC becomes more reasonable, once they have a reality check that we, the voters, will not allow such fiscal irresponsibility.
Sincere thanks,
Jennifer Ray, Putnam County