VALDOSTA —
The Valdosta City Council took action during a special meeting Thursday evening that will allow them to jointly petition the Lowndes County Superior Court to resolve a dispute in the distribution of Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds.
The City of Valdosta will join the cities of Dasher, Lake Park, Remerton and Hahira in the petition. Attorneys from McDonough, Ga. law firm Smith, Welch, Webb and White will jointly represent the cities in the arbitration.
Lowndes County and the cities entered into mediated negotiations of the percentage distribution of LOST funds Aug. 21 and 22. The negotiations were unsuccessful, so the cities will jointly appeal the Superior Court for a decision on how the funds should be divided.
Per Georgia law, the LOST comes up for re-consideration every 10 years, following census results, according to Lake Park and Hahira city attorney Rob Plumb. There has been a LOST distribution certificate in place since 2002, but that distribution scheme must be re-negotiated if the penny tax is to remain in place.
If County and city governments cannot agree on a method of division of LOST funds, they may file for arbitration, Plumb said, adding that Tuesday is the deadline to file.
“They (the cities and the County) were not able to reach an agreement at mediation, so the next step in the process if they don’t want the tax to go away, is either the cities or the County or both together can file a petition with the court. The cities have elected to be jointly represented and to file the petition.”
According to Plumb, the deadline was calculated as a result of the unsuccessful mediation. The City of Lake Park held a special meeting Wednesday for the same purpose, and passed similar action to approve the joint petition, Plumb said.
“It turns out the deadline is pretty quick, and we had to meet this week to make the deadline,” Plumb said.
Valdosta unanimously passed three separate actions — to approve a joint representation letter of agreement for LOST arbitration; to authorize Smith, Welch, Webb and White as special counsel to represent the cities in the arbitration; and to approve a joint petition to proceed to arbitration.
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The City of Valdosta will join the cities of Dasher, Lake Park, Remerton and Hahira in the petition.
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Cities want court to decide LOST
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