Tag Archives: negotiation

County lost LOST; now has 120 days to negotiate with cities

So all our tax money the county spent on the alleged county attorney arguing before the state Supreme Court was wasted. The remaining law seems to say by 120 days from Monday the cities and the county need to come to an agreement.

Kay Harris wrote for the VDT yesterday, Lowndes LOST in limbo: Supreme Court tosses key amendment,

In a ruling issued Monday, Oct. 7, the Supreme Court of Georgia declared a 2010 amendment to the Local Option Sales Tax Act unconstitutional, reasoning that the amendment would delegate a legislative function of allocating tax proceeds to the judicial branch of government, a violation of the Separation of Powers clause of the Georgia Constitution.

For Lowndes County, the ruling effectively renders the lawsuit moot that was filed by the five cities against the county in September 2012.

The Supreme Court’s ruling came in the case of Turner County vs. the City of Ashburn over a dispute in splitting the proceeds from the one cent sales tax, the same issue in the Lowndes lawsuit. By declaring the portion unconstitutional that would allow a judge to decide how to allocate the tax dollars between the entities, the issue is now in limbo for several counties in Georgia.

You may recall that former Chairman Ashley Paulk wasn’t interested in discussing proposals from the cities, and said from before the LOST negotiations began that he expected it to go to arbitration.

This was the same Chairman Ashley Paulk who put SPLOST VII on the ballot a year early and lost it. I wonder how much input County Manager Joe Pritchard had into these two losing decisions?

At least SPLOST VI hasn’t expired yet and there’s time for the voters to go again on SPLOST VII in November.

What happens now with LOST? Continue reading →

Chatham County calls in LOST mediator

Chatham County and its cities appears to be the future of Lowndes County and our cities. On LOST negotiations, Chatham got tired of listening to the cities and called in the mediator.

Eric Curl wrote for Savannah Now today, Chatham rejects cities' sales-tax proposal, calls for mediator

With a month of negotiations still remaining, Chatham County has given up on working solely with the eight municipalities to determine how an estimated $600 million in Local Option Sales Tax revenue should be split up during the next 10 years.

Chatham County Chairman Pete Liakakis requested Tuesday night that a third party be brought in immediately to help determine distributions, instead of waiting the full 60 days available to reach an agreement before mediation is required.

“I believe the parties are so far apart, that the current process is at an impasse,” Liakakis said.

Liakakis said a proposal presented by the cities two weeks ago that would lower the county's share by about 7 percent while boosting the municipalities' portion was flawed because it is built around the concept that the county's share should be based on the residents living outside city limits.

“It ignores the fact that the county provides services to all citizens of the county,” he said.

Yep, sounds familiar.

-jsq