Albany City Commission agrees to concessions on sales tax, requests consolidation ballot question

ALBANY — The sage of reaching an agreement between the city of Albany and Dougherty County on a proposed sales tax referendum seemingly lurched toward a possible conclusion on Tuesday as city officials agreed to the county’s final proposal, or at least mostly agreed.

The choice for the Albany City Commission on Monday afternoon was between two options on the special-purpose local-option sales tax, a multiyear 1% tax that funds capital spending for the two governments.

The first of the options presented by the county was to continue the same 64-36% split, with the city receiving the larger share plus an additional $3.5 million for its stormwater/sewage separation work that has an estimated cost of $105 million.

The county’s second option was to proceed without an intergovernmental agreement, meaning the SPLOST, if approved by voters, would be extended for only five years instead of six. The county also had increased its list of favored projects by about $16 million that would be taken off the top, with the remainder split between the two governments and the end result being roughly the same as that offered in option one.

The percentage split contained in the county’s first option has been the county’s offer from the beginning, and the extra money was based on the six-year tax exceeding the initial estimate for collections of $100 million by the $3.5 million figure.

The offer approved by city commissioners agreed to that basic framework, but Commissioner Chad Warbington added a few caveats. Those were that the $3.5 million be provided to the city in the first year of collections, that language be included in the referendum stating the split equals the 33-67 percent split the city had offered as a compromise during negotiations, that separate negotiations be held over a separate local-option sales tax and that a non-binding referendum be included on the November ballot asking voters’ opinion on the consolidation of the city and county governments.

As that was a mouthful, Warbington was asked to repeat his motion several times, coming after an initial proposal by Mayor Bo Dorough to agree to the county’s initial offer in negotiations of a 36-64 split and accepting the additional $3.5 million.

Whichever course was selected, the mayor compared the city’s acceptance of the county offer as “running up the white flag” in terms of what it should receive.

City officials have said from the beginning that Albany is deserving of a larger share based on the 81% population in the county that resides within the city limits and the larger amount of services it provides.

They also argued the city needs a larger share to cushion the rate hikes that will be necessary to fund the sewage system project.

“What we’re looking at is keeping your property taxes low and your utility rates low,” Commissioner Bob Langstaff said. “We know we’re going to have to raise utility rates, but we could raise those rates less if we had a fair share of the LOST and SPLOST proceeds.

“I’ve been on the City Commission (20 years), and we’ve never had the guts to go to the mats with the county.”

Dorough also contested the county’s claim that it has been willing to negotiate.

“The question is really whether a bad deal is better than no deal,” he said. “We haven’t said this before, but this is basically an ultimatum. This has been a real bad experience all the way around.”

Commissioners also accused the county of moving the goal posts by adding more money for jail improvements, construction of a courthouse annex and additional money for Judicial Center improvements for the second option in order to prevent the city from receiving its fair share.

City Commission members said they realized that the county is heavily dependent on the SPLOST, and hence made the better 30-70 offer initially instead of asking for more based on population, Commissioner Demetrius Young said.

“We should have had the chance to have sat down and discussed it,” he said. “(Say) why I’m saying this, understanding each other and understanding the others points of view. I think cooler heads should have been allowed to prevail, and we sit down and we sit down and figure out where that compromise was.”

Young, Langstaff and Warbington spoke in favor of the consolidation question, as did Commissioner Jalen Johnson, who grew frustrated when that became a sticking point in making a decision during Monday’s meeting.

Ultimately, Johnson, Warbington, Langstaff, Dorough and Commissioner Vilnis Gaines supported Warbington’s proposal, with Commissioners Jon Howard and Young voting in opposition.

The SPLOST referendum is scheduled to be on the November general election ballot, and the LOST vote will follow in December.

File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
File Photo: Carlton Fletcher