VALDOSTA — The five cities in the county were given one week to decide whether they would accept Lowndes County’s Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) proposal, which was essentially to maintain the same distribution percentages from a decade ago.

Monday was the deadline and City of Valdosta Mayor John Gayle confirmed yesterday morning that the offer is not acceptable and Hahira, Remerton, Lake Park, Dasher and Valdosta will be signing a document to continue negotiations.

On April 9, Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Chairman Ashley Paulk offered the cities a deal nearly identical to the one passed ten years ago after a significant amount of arbitration.

In the previous agreement, Lowndes County was awarded about 58 percent of LOST revenues, while the five cities in the county split the remaining funds. Valdosta ended up with 38.63 percent, or about $8,474,949 in 2002.

Paulk originally offered an alternative to the 2002 numbers with 72 percent of the LOST revenues going directly to the county.

“We made them a very fair offer I think,” said Paulk. “When they walked out of the room last week, that’s the last we’ve heard from them. If it winds up in the Superior Court, I’ve spent 16 years trusting them. They have the wisdom of the law and I have no problem letting them decide.”

According to Gayle, exact numbers are not ready for release to the public but all the cities in Lowndes County have signed on to show  their support. He also would not provide an exact percentage that will be requested.

“We’re basically going to say that we cannot accept their offer, therefore we want to proceed with negotiations,” Gayle said. “We’re looking for a good bit more.”

Other incorporated areas such as Lake Park and Hahira are also in favor of a bigger piece of the pie, which between January 1999 and August 2011 generated a grand total of almost $244 million. Hahira city manager Jonathan Sumner said Hahira could certainly use more than 1.4 percent for the upcoming tax cycle. He cites a 68 percent increase in household growth over the last ten years combined with stressed public safety and works departments as critical factors in their decision to sign on with the City of Valdosta for continuing negotiations.

“We absolutely need some

increase,” Sumner said. “We will make any amount we get work but we have a duty to our citizens, establishments and the Georgia State constitution to have a balanced budget and

 provide the services they demand and deserve.”

Paulk tends to agree with Sumner’s assessment of the need for more money in Hahira.

“If the cities give up anything, it should be to Hahira,” Paulk remarked.

Lake Park also depends heavily on LOST revenue, mayor Ben Futch said.

LOST makes up about 17 percent of Lake Park’s entire operating budget.

He thinks the population basis for distribution does not fairly portray the amount of services extended by Lake Park in Public Safety and Public Works for non-residents.

Each party will have 60 days to negotiate and then 60 more days for mediation or baseball arbitration, in which a judge will decide between the two plans. Each side would submit their best and final offer, and the judge would weigh the merits of each before choosing one.

Although the City of Valdosta has no concrete negotiation plan available to the public, Gayle said a meeting will be held in the coming weeks in a neutral location to continue discussions.

“We certainly are trying to avoid any litigation,” he said. “We just feel like the city and county should be able to sit down and discuss these things and we don’t need lawyers and accountants at this time and we don’t want that.”

In a letter hand-delivered to Paulk and the Board of Commissioners late Monday afternoon, the mayors state:

“We are not prepared to make a counter offer at this time because we believe we must first meet and discuss together the above factors and changes that have occurred over the last decade.”

The one cent sales tax has to be renegotiated every ten years, but does not have to be approved by voters. It is used to offset property taxes, which are rolled back according to how much LOST tax is collected each year.

A meeting between all community leaders is currently scheduled for Wednesday, May 2 at 9 a.m. at the Hahira Community Center, located at 215 Randall Street.

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