Time for county, cities to review LOST revenues

Posted by
Zach Mitcham
in Top Stories
Wednesday, January 25. 2012
Comments (0)
It’s nearly time for the Madison County government and municipal representatives to renew Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) allocations.

LOST is a one-cent tax levied on every dollar spent in Madison County. Unlike the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST), which must be used on specific projects in the county, LOST is used on government’s general operations.

Years back, the state legislature approved the creation of LOST to help local governments keep property taxes down. So, LOST funds are raised in counties and divided between various government entities. Those county and city governments then use that sales tax money in their general funds. And, thus, some of the burden on property taxpayers is lessened by the penny tax on sales.

But just how much of that sales tax money does each city and each county government get?

Well, local leaders are now in the process of reviewing those allocation amounts.

Madison County commission chairman Anthony Dove met last Thursday with local mayors to discuss LOST.
The chairman said the numbers are renegotiated every 10 years after the Census. Madison County’s population grew by nine percent between 2000 and 2010. And there weren’t any wild swings in population among the cities. So, Dove doesn’t expect much change in the allocations.

Eighty-nine percent of Madison County residents live in unincorporated areas of the county (outside of cities). So the county government takes the lion’s share of LOST funding.

Here’s a breakdown of LOST allocations in 2010: the Madison County government, $1,461,261; Carlton, $49,354; Colbert, $108,608; Comer, $157,965; Danielsville, $118,474; Hull, $29,607; and Ila, $49,354.

Madison County and city leaders will meet again at 5:30 p.m., Feb. 9, in the county government complex to discuss LOST allocations.
Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)
No comments
Add Comment
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

 
   
 
Submitted comments will be subject to moderation before being displayed.
 

Recent Comments

anon about Danielsville to hold Nov. 4 beverage referendum
Mon, 07.28.2014 20:33
Maybe someone needs to find out what they aren't telling parents about the bus routes at certa [...]
Virginia Moss about On Race and Justice: A look back at the murder of Lemuel Penn
Mon, 07.28.2014 10:44
Truthful history. Whose truthful history? Which truthful history. Yours? Mine? That scholar's [...]
Christopher about OPINION: Who is dumping children in Texas?
Mon, 07.28.2014 07:04
I say feed them on a bus heading to Mexico and go a about 100 miles inside and drop them off a [...]
Jim Donaldson about On Race and Justice: A look back at the murder of Lemuel Penn
Sun, 07.27.2014 18:56
I do not know about Israel but I know I am not for history in schools unless it was truthful h [...]
Cd about Charges dropped against parents of child found on Hwy. 72
Sun, 07.27.2014 05:57
Seems the commenters here did not read the article. Or they don't have children and don't unde [...]
Anonymous about On Race and Justice: A look back at the murder of Lemuel Penn
Sat, 07.26.2014 14:36
Israel must not be in favor of any history classes in school.

Sister Sites

BanksNews TODAY
BarrowJournal
BraseltonNews TODAY
CommerceNews TODAY
JacksonHerald TODAY
MainStreetNews OBITS
MainStreetNews SPORTS
MainStreetNews.com
Copyright © 2008-2012 MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.