The Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) will recognize two Hall County state legislators, Sen. Shelly Echols and Rep. Lee Hawkins, for their work during this year’s legislative session to pass the new Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) law. The pair will be feted at the July 11 meeting of the Hall County Board of Commissioners (HCBOC).
“We are excited to be a part of recognizing the work that Senator Echols and Representative Hawkins did to ensure these important legislative changes were made to Transportation SPLOST for Hall County and for Georgia as a whole,” HCBOC Chairman Richard Higgins said. “We want to thank them both for their leadership and dedicated service to the public.”
The bills they introduced in their respective legislative chambers, and which subsequently passed, require only municipalities representing more than 50% of a county’s municipal population to sign an IGA to levy the tax at a full penny. The old legislation required all municipalities in a single county Transportation SPLOST to sign an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) in order to levy a full penny tax and had stood in the way of a TSPLOST referendum in Hall County because Buford balked at signing the proposed IGA.
On June 27, several municipalities in Hall County signed a new local 2024 Transportation SPLOST IGA.
EARLIER STORY. POSTED JUNE 28: TSPLOST referendum one step closer (wgtjradio.com)
Following the recognition of Sen. Echols and Rep. Hawkins, the county commission is expected to vote on a resolution to include the Transportation SPLOST question on the local Nov. 5 General Election ballot.