The Putnam County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night sent a 30-day take-it-or-leave-it offer to the Eatonton City Council on the split of the local option sales tax for the next 10 years.
Several formulas – and rationales – have been batted around, both publicly and no doubt privately, in the past year, and they all tilted toward the county receiving a larger share. A second issue was the rate the city’s share would decline.
The county government, whose budget easily triples the city’s, originally put out ratios for negotiations as much as 85-15 and 80-20 percent. The commission’s authorization of Tuesday night’s offer would wind up at 75-25 percent by 2027, but would decrease the city’s share 1 percent a year in the first five years.
“That will give them time to get lined up, to get their finances in order,” said District 4 Commissioner Jeff Wooten, who proposed the idea.
But also included was the demand that the city accept this offer within 30 days or risk losing the tax altogether.
“We have got to put an end to this,” said Chairman Billy Webster. “We have got to put a budget proposal together in the next month or so.”
The commission also approved the transfer of Jimmy Davis Park back to the city. The park was originally built for the city back in the 1960s with federal money, and some of the attached federal strings had never been fulfilled.