Decrease in ’12 SPLOST expected

kriner@sunmulti.com

On Tuesday morning the Houston County Board of Commissioners

had a rather routine meeting.

First with seven public hearings and the approval of seven

special exception applications. The commissioners also approved two personnel

request; one for a legal secretary/office manager and the other for a deputy

clerk for the magistrate court.

Also the commissioners voted to reappoint Commissioner Tom McMichael to serve on the Hospital

Authority as well as newly appointed Commissioner Gail Robinson to the board.

In other business, the board voted unanimously to purchase

eight vehicles all to be paid for out of the 2012 Special Purpose Local Option

Sales Tax. The total for all eight vehicles is nearly $200,000.

Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker said during closing

comments that the 2012 SPLOST is expected to take a 10-12 percent decrease in

revenue production.

Stalnaker noted that the sales tax isn’t growing at the

level projected. He said there has been a slight increase, but not to the level

initially thought.

“We are keeping our eye on it closely and we will be

proactive. We don’t want to spend money that we wont be able to collect.”

HHJ News