Tax vote today in Whitfield

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 16, 2015

Whitfield County voters go to the polls today in a special election to determine whether the county should adopt a new Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Those in line when the polls close will be allowed to vote.

If approved by voters, the 1 percent sales tax would last four years, beginning July 1 of this year and ending June 30, 2019. It would collect $63.6 million during that period, according to the latest estimates.

Thirty-eight percent of that would go toward public safety, including a digital emergency radio system for first responders, new trucks for the Whitfield County and Dalton fire departments, a new fire station in the northwest part of the county and new vehicles for the Varnell and Cohutta police departments and the sheriff’s office. Another 41 percent would go to roads and infrastructure.

The rest would go to “quality of life” projects such as a new $5 million recreation facility at Haig Mill Lake, which would include a five-kilometer cross country trail, restrooms, and paddle boats and a dock for them, as well as improvements at Lakeshore Park. The plans for Lakeshore call for a new walking track around the park as well as the planting of trees and other improvements at the lake.

The county’s previous SPLOST — a three-year tax that raised some $48 million for work on local roads and infrastructure — expired in 2010.

Voters need to bring one of the six accepted forms of photo identification. They are: a valid state or federal government-issued photo ID; a Georgia driver’s license, even if it’s expired; a valid employee photo ID from any local, state or federal government; a valid U.S. passport; a valid U.S. military photo ID; or a valid tribal photo ID.