County, towns clash on sales tax distribution | BanksNewsTODAY

BOC chairman Charles Turk the presented a proposal that the county receive 84.5 percent of the LOST revenue with the remainder to be divided among the towns.

“84.5 is the lowest we will go,” Turk said. “Take it or leave it. That is our line in the sand.”

Turk pointed out the services that the county receives, including recreation and public safety, and said this has been increased and all county residents benefit from the services.

“We’ve added ballfields that city residents use,” he said.

Maysville mayor Richard Presley added that the town has also made additions, including adding two police officers and developing a town park.

Homer councilman James Dumas said that the town is able to not have city taxes due to the LOST revenue. He pointed out that the county would be receiving more tad revenue due to the increase in the tax digest.

Bergin responded that all of the towns had also added services and made improvements. He said the towns would lose over $2.2 million in the proposal presented by the county.

In a handout from the towns that was given to all members of the BOC at the meeting, it stated, “Banks County government proposed a formula for distribution that was not based upon any of the eight criteria offered in the current state law. In their proposal, instead of asking for a percentage by population based upon the 2020 Census data of 79.43 percent for the county, but instead the county proposed a distribution to the county which equates to a loss of revenue to the cities of over $2.2 million.”

Bergin asked: “Where do we go from here?”

The town representatives then left the joint meeting to meet in private together for 20 minutes to discuss this proposal and came back with a proposal that the county receive 81 percent. The commissioners did not agree with this proposal. All five commissioners said they would only agree to the county receiving 84.5 percent of the LOST revenue.

Another meeting was held to discuss the issue further, although Turk pointed out “three and a half percent is a long way apart.”

The next joint meeting between the BOC and representatives of the towns will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 4.

“We’ve all got to live within our means and we can’t do it and put the burden on others,” Bergin said. “Let’s see if we can find fairness and compromise.”

The agreement on how the money would be allocated has to be decided upon by Aug. 29. If an agreement can’t

be made, the county and cities will have to go through arbitration with an outside mediator. This is what happened

10 years ago during the last LOST negotiations.