All over the news today: Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter on radio 105.9 this morning; Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and Valdosta City Council reach a SPLOST deal (VDT).

The Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and the City of Valdosta reached an agreement Monday on how to divide the seventh cycle of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which both entities will push to appear for a second time on November ballots after its defeat in 2012.

Last week, the city requested that State Rep. Amy Carter withdraw the bill that would have allowed Valdosta to put a MOST or Municipal Option Sales Tax on the ballot, which would have earned a penny in sales tax for the city, who would not be required to share that money with Lowndes County or other cities.

After negotiations over the phone and via email, County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter and Mayor John Gayle signed an official agreement for SPLOST VII Monday afternoon.

How could this be?

So many questions?

How could this be decided with no vote by the commission? They didn’t even discuss it at yesterday morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session.

When did the city council vote to withdraw their “MOST”? Not at last week’s Valdosta City Council meeting. And why were they dealing with Representative Amy Carter and not Representative Dexter Sharper who represents the majority of Valdosta?

Was there a meeting that I missed?

-gretchen

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