If all goes as county leaders plan, Colquitt County voters will go to the polls in about three months to decide whether to extend a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for another six years. The tax will fund construction and equipment purchases for the county government, the governments of each of the six cities within the county, and three joint city-county authorities. Meetings over the last several weeks are leading up to an intergovernmental agreement and a call for the Nov. 7 special election.

Part of this process is coming up with a list of projects the money will be used for. The county started this year’s process with its own project list pretty well in mind. The county needs to renovate its jail, and the project is estimated to cost $20 million. County leaders know they can’t just put a $20 million levy for a jail in front of voters, so they have to add other projects that will be more popular.

Among those projects will be items on the wish lists of each local city as well as the Hospital Authority, Development Authority and Parks and Recreation Authority.

The sales tax is expected to bring in $44 million over six years. The county proposes that $2.5 million of that go directly to the jail project, that each of the three authorities receive $500,000, and the rest ($40 million) be split among the county and each of the municipalities proportionally by population.

The initial proposal called for the county to use most of its allocation to go toward the jail project too, but since then County Administrator Chas Cannon has found a financing option that could allow the county to use more of the sales tax money for other projects and pay off the jail over time at a low interest rate.

To the surprise of no one, the authorities all want more than the $500,000 they’ve been offered.

Each of the authorities is proposing projects that will benefit the community. The Hospital Authority wants an ambulance station that will improve response times on many calls and will meet needs of the EMS crews that aren’t being met in their current location. The Rec Authority proposes a variety of facility upgrades that will offer new opportunities throughout the county. The Development Authority believes it can attract industry and jobs more successfully if it has better infrastructure and facilities to offer a prospect.

All of the authorities’ requests seem very valid. All their projects could benefit the community.

But the cities are also looking for ways to use sales tax revenue to help the community, and they haven’t released their project lists yet. Every dollar spent on the ambulance station or Citizens Business Park is a dollar that can’t be spent on road paving or a new fire truck or other projects from the cities and county — and vice-versa.

Planning for the sales tax has become a balancing act among a variety of different needs. No one should get everything they want, but we hope local leaders have wisdom as they set the priorities.

A quick guide to Colquitt County sales taxes

Colquitt County retailers currently charge 8% sales tax. Four pennies on every dollar of sales go to the State of Georgia, and the other four reflect local taxes approved by voters:

• 1% for the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST), which helps fund the operation of the Colquitt County School District. This tax does not require a vote to continue.

• 1% for the Special Purpose LOST (SPLOST), which funds capital projects for Colquitt County and its municipalities. The current SPLOST will expire at the end of 2024. The proposed SPLOST will begin immediately thereafter if approved by voters.

• 1% for the Education SPLOST, which funds capital projects for the Colquitt County School District. The current, five-year ESPLOST ends Sept. 30, but Colquitt County voters approved a new one in March that will take effect as soon as the current one ends.

• 1% for the Transportation SPLOST, which funds transportation-related capital projects. Voters approved the latest five-year TSPLOST in May 2022 and it took effect the following October.

Colquitt County voters will consider the proposed SPLOST on Nov. 7. If approved it will take effect when the current tax ends. If it fails, the county can put it before voters again in November 2024.