Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-NewsRefurbishing the historic Crescent City train car is one of the projects suggested by Whitfield County residents to be funded by a planned 2020 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).

DALTON, Ga.— Whitfield County residents have suggested four projects to be funded by a 2020 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), according to County Administrator Mark Gibson.

Monday was the deadline for residents to nominate projects that will be considered by a citizens advisory committee that will make recommendations to the county Board of Commissioners for projects to be funded by that SPLOST.

The projects that were nominated were:

• Safety improvements at Brickyard Road at its intersection with South Dixie Highway. No specifics were provided.

• Refurbishment of the Crescent City train car. Built in 1949, the car was originally a luxury passenger car for Southern Railway VIPs in its day. The car was part of the Southern Crescent passenger service that ran from New York City to New Orleans. After passenger service ended in the early 1970s, the car was brought to Dalton and used for many years as office space. Jonathan Caylor and Mark Hannah donated it to the city in 2011, and later that year it was moved to its current location next to the freight depot at 305 S. Depot St.

Kathryn Sellers, who spearheaded an effort to fix up the rail car but said she was not the person who suggested the project to the committee, said a consultant’s estimate is that it would take $219,000 to complete work on the train car, including repairs to the floor and decorative work.

• North Dalton Bypass. Gibson said the person who suggested this gave “no detailed description, only that it needs improvements.”

• Restoration of the Threadmill Lake basin for stormwater control and recreation. The project would provide fishing and walking trails connecting to Brookwood Park, Lakeshore Park and Al Rollins Park.

“This is a project suggested by the Archway Partnership in 2014 along with the master plan for Lakeshore Park. The project did not make it to the last SPLOST list but is just as important to the community now as it was then,” said the person who nominated the project. The project has an estimated cost of $2.5 million.

The Archway Partnership was a University of Georgia partnership with the greater Dalton community to help local communities reach their strategic goals.

Gibson said a date hasn’t been set for the citizens advisory committee to consider these proposals.

A SPLOST is a 1% tax that is levied on most goods sold in the county. The revenues generated can only be used for certain types of projects and cannot be used for operating expenses. The 2020 SPLOST is projected to bring in about $16 million a year. It must be approved by county voters.