County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

Q.  Now that SPLOST has passed, what next? 
A.  I want to especially thank everyone who supported the SPLOST referendum this past Tuesday.  We were excited at the results and hope even those who did not feel they could support the SPLOST with their votes, will eventually see how worthwhile this referendum will be to Union County.  This will be the catalyst for helping to keep Union County as one of the best counties in Georgia with one of the lowest property tax rates.

Q. When will we see some of the projects begin construction?
A. As we said at the public meetings, we will proceed with caution with our projects because of the economy.  We will soon be meeting to prioritize them and at the same time contract with engineering or architect firms to begin the process of drawing plans so that accurate cost estimates can be made.  These will be primarily contingency contracts that will only be paid once we begin the projects and/or have funding in hand.

Q.  Will the county borrow money through the sale of bonds or simply wait and pay as you go?
A.  The  $ 12,000,000 county road projects/bridges  have always been set up to pay as we go and that will not change.   However, most other projects in the past, including the new courthouse and 911 center upgrade, fire engines and rescue vehicles were funded by borrowing money through bond sales up front and paying the principal and interest with SPLOST sales tax proceeds.  We are on schedule for all the 2003 SPLOST debt to be paid in full with the SPLOST proceeds in 2009.  The savings on the cost of inflation by  completing the projects early was much greater than the interest cost, thereby saving the county several hundred thousand dollars.

Q. Will the county sell the bonds prior to the current SPLOST expiring?
A.  That decision has not been made yet.  The current SPLOST will expire in March of 2009, so if we sell bonds prior to then, we would have to pay the interest from the sale date until March of 2009.  However, it is possible that the current low interest rate we could sell the bonds for,  would be less than we could receive in interest by turning around and depositing the money in a savings account, therefore actually making money for the county (arbitrage).   So if the professional fund managers advise us that capturing the very low interest rate now would save the county significantly over waiting for another year, we will strongly consider that option.

Again, we are watching the economy and the interest rate to make those determinations.  If we think the interest rates will be lower and the construction costs lower and we can get some people to work, we would also consider starting some of the projects prior to March of 2009. Whatever decisions that are made will be for the good of the taxpayers.

Q. Will you keep the public informed about what you are doing?
A. Absolutely we will.  Having been in business and finance most of my life, I have operated Union County in the open for the past seven years under a business model instead of government model, which is one reason  we have been financially sound and will continue to do so into the future.

It was amazing to hear those campaigning against the SPLOST tell folks that the county was going to get into a financial hardship with SPLOST and the taxpayers would have to bale us out.  Those making the false and/or inaccurate accusations did not know what they were talking about then, nor will they now.  We will always continue to do what is best for the citizens of Union County,  just as we always have.

As always, I encourage anyone that still does not understand the SPLOST process to contact me instead of relying on someone’s information that may not fully understand how this works.  It is fairly complicated and requires some amount of research to fully comprehend.  You can email me at unioncounty@uniongov.com, call the office at 706-439-6000 or write to U.C. Commissioner, 114 Courthouse St., Blairsville, GA 30512.

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