Tuesday, the Decatur County Board of Commissioners and the City of Bainbridge finally agreed on something.
Despite both sides not getting everything that they were hoping for, they agreed on a distribution for SPLOST VI revenue. SPLOST, or special-purpose local-option sales tax, is a one percent sales tax used to fund the building of parks, schools, roads and other public facilities. So many businesses and residents are affected by SPLOST, so it’s an important subject for both the local governments and voters of Decatur County.
This is excellent news, and demonstrates the ongoing feud between Decatur County and Bainbridge is showing signs of progress. If both sides can come to an agreement on SPLOST, then there is certainly potential to come to an agreement on issues such as service delivery agreements.
“It’s a united thing,” Decatur County Chairman Frank Loeffler said, and that’s exactly right.
In order for progress to be made, Decatur County and its municipalities will have to throw out any previous grudges, sit down in a room and discuss issues in a civil manner. Everyone isn’t going to get exactly what they ask for, but that’s part of what a settlement is. You make sacrifices so issues can be resolved.
It looks as though sacrifices were made to settle SPLOST revenue distribution, but at least it’s an agreement and it’s off the table.