Industrial Development Authority Wants $4.6 Million In Future SPLOST Funding

The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority voted earlier today to ask the Oconee County Board of Commissioners to earmark $4.6 million in the 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for its economic development projects.

The IDA gets no funds from the current SPLOST, approved by voters in 2009 and continuing through the end of 2015, and the Authority said it wanted to get its request before the BOC so it can have its projects included in the next tax.

The IDA said it needs the money to invest in infrastructure for the Gateway Business Park on SR 316 near the Barrow County line and to purchase new land for industrial development.

The Board of Commissioners expects to ask voters in May of next year to approve another 1 percent sales tax, and it has asked county departments and committees to prepare requests for how that money is to be spent.

The public will not be invited to offer its recommendations until the first of the year, with the commissioners expected to vote in March on which projects to include in the ballot language for the tax.

For details of the IDA request and more on SPLOST plans, please go to Oconee County Observations.