Time for county, cities to review LOST revenues

Posted by
Zach Mitcham
in Top Stories
Wednesday, January 25. 2012
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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.
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