DALTON, Ga. — It’s almost decision time.

On Tuesday, Whitfield County residents will decide the fate of the proposed six-year, $100 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) that would fund a number of projects in the cities of Cohutta, Dalton, Tunnel Hill and Varnell and Whitfield County.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at precincts throughout the county.  As of 3 p.m. Friday, the last day of early voting, 1,422 people had cast their ballots, according to the Whitfield County elections office. Whitfield County has about 40,000 registered voters.

A SPLOST is a 1 percent sales tax on most goods and services bought in the county. It can only fund projects and items; a SPLOST can’t pay for general operations. If approved, the SPLOST would begin on July 1 of this year. Projects include two new Whitfield County administrative buildings in downtown Dalton, a new park in south Whitfield County near Southeast Whitfield High School and a new recreation building at Dalton’s John Davis Recreation Center on Civic Drive. 

The current four-year SPLOST expires on June 30 and is tracking to collect $64 million. That SPLOST funded a new emergency radio system for first responders, new firetrucks for both the Dalton and Whitfield fire departments, and Dalton’s Haig Mill Lake Park, among other projects.

The SPLOST

pros and cons 

Over the past several weeks, two groups with opposing SPLOST views made presentations to residents and organizations throughout the area. The groups have also promoted their messages on social media, a website and through advertising.

The anti-SPLOST Engaged Citizens for Georgia, a grassroots group including several Dalton residents, considers the SPLOST another burdensome tax on Whitfield County residents who have seen property taxes soar in recent years while the county’s median income has plummeted.

The pro-SPLOST Citizens for SPLOST, spearheaded by the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce, believes the sales tax is advantageous because those who live outside of Whitfield County pay a portion of it, and the quality of life projects the tax would fund could help entice young professionals to live here.

Chamber President Rob Bradham, along with former county commission chairman Mike Babb, have presented the pro-SPLOST stance to civic groups and at public meetings in all corners of the county. Bradham said the quality of life projects on the SPLOST — including new parks, fields and recreational facilities — will help attract young professionals who work in Whitfield County but don’t reside here to live here. That’s a major reason why the chamber supports the SPLOST, he said.

“We’ve found that 62 percent of those who earn more than $40,000 a year in a job in Whitfield County choose to live somewhere else,” he said. “The two biggest reasons they have told us is lack of housing that is appealing to them and quality of life. Parks, open spaces and recreational opportunities are a big part of quality of life.”

With more than one-third of the SPLOST funds being spent on government buildings, Jevin Jensen, chairman of Engaged Citizens for Georgia, believes that the dollar amount along with the amount of square footage in those planned buildings are excessive.

“I just don’t see how new administrative buildings are going to improve the quality of life or attract people to live here,” Jensen said.

Other key points from the anti-SPLOST group:

• A SPLOST does not necessarily mean property taxes will stay the same or decrease as larger buildings often require more upkeep and added services usually require more government employees. “An extra dollar of SPLOST revenue results in a 12-cent increase in current operating spending,” according to the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.

• The SPLOST will take millions of dollars out of the pockets of Whitfield County residents, opponents say. The 1 percent sales tax over six years amounts to more than $2,000 per household, the group says, based on 2019 Census Bureau statistics.

• Whitfield County’s median household income in 2017 was $40,720 — down 14.1 percent compared to 2016, according to the Department of Numbers using latest Census Bureau statistics. Georgia’s median household income in 2017 was $56,180 while the United States’ median household income in 2017 was $60,340. Both the state and national median income increased from 2016-2017 while Whitfield County’s fell.

• The Dalton Metro Area, which includes Whitfield and Murray counties, is the 16th poorest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the country, according to 24/7 Wall Street, and residents need tax relief, opponents say.

Other key points from the pro-SPLOST group:

• The SPLOST would be a continuation of the current tax — not an extra tax — and would help “keep the momentum going providing additional improvements to our community” including public safety, infrastructure and roads.

• Of Georgia’s 159 counties, 156 currently have a SPLOST, including every county that borders Whitfield County. Not having a SPLOST would put Whitfield County at a competitive disadvantage, proponents say. Proponents also say the SPLOST spreads the tax burden to more people — not just property owners.

• With non-Whitfield County residents paying a portion of the SPLOST, the sales tax “allows the community to fund the same projects at a discount as opposed to raising the funds via property tax.” Although the exact amount of SPLOST paid by out-of-towners cannot be determined, SPLOST supporters point to the number of people who stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, fill up with gas and shop here while passing through.

• The Whitfield County government services buildings would be updated “to provide a safer environment for employees, convenience for citizens and accessibility for physically disabled residents.” 

The SPLOST projects

Whitfield County’s total SPLOST cut would be $76.3 million.

It would pay to demolish county Administrative Buildings 1 and 2 and replace them with, respectively, a new taxpayer services building ($5.7 million) with three drive-throughs that would house the tax commissioner’s office and tax assessor’s office, and a new government services building ($18.2 million) that would contain all other county offices other than those related to the judicial system. The buildings would be on the sites of Administrative Buildings 1 and 2.

Administrative Building 2, which was built as a church in the mid-1900s, has a number of structural issues. It is at 214 W. King St. in Dalton. Officials said the issues facing Administrative Building 1 — which include lack of handicap accessibility and a needed roof repairs— are not as pressing. It is at 301 W. Crawford St. in Dalton.

Administrative Building 2 has housed the commissioners’ meeting room as well as the offices of the accountability courts — Domestic Violence Court, Drug Court and Mental Health Court — and the RESOLV (Recognizing, Exposing, Stopping Our Learned Violence) Project anger management program, a nonprofit program that works with the accountability courts in Whitfield and Murray counties and the Northwest Georgia Family Crisis Center. The new buildings will total 96,000 square feet and would replace some 72,000 square feet in existing offices. County officials say the new buildings are intended to last 50 years and accommodate the expected growth in the county.

The county would use $15.8 million of the SPLOST to build a new park and community center that would include new athletic fields; a new community center and athletic fields at Westside Park; and renovations to the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library to complete structural repairs and build an outdoor programming area. The community center at the Westside Park would cost a projected $4.5 million and the Westside athletics fields will cost an estimated $1.3 million. The Westside athletic fields would be regulation-sized soccer fields, which can be used for football as well.

The county would put $500,000 into the library, but officials say that would be leveraged to get around $2 million in additional funding from the state for that work.

The city of Dalton would use $4 million of its $21.46 million share of the SPLOST to tear down the John Davis Recreation Center and build a new rec center in its place, $2 million to build new baseball/softball and soccer fields at Heritage Point Park and $1.5 million to build a walking and biking trail along Mill Creek to connect Haig Mill Lake Park to the Crown Mill area near downtown.

Dalton would also spend an estimated $1 million to create a railroad “quiet zone,” an area where trains would no longer blow their whistles as they approach and pass through downtown. This would involve adding signals and gates to street crossings that do not have them and bringing existing signals/gates up to higher standards. 

Cohutta would receive $444,536 if the SPLOST passes. Projects that would be funded include repairing some of its historic city-owned buildings and park improvements.

Tunnel Hill’s share of the proposed SPLOST is $575,678, with most of the money going towards sewer and new police cars.

In Varnell, the city would use its $1.02 million SPLOST share on projects including parks and recreation upgrades and new police cars.