Cherokee OKs referendum to extend SPLOST

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners has approved placing on the November ballot a referendum asking voters to extend for another six years the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

The present, one-penny SPLOST expires next year. If voters approve, a new SPLOST would take effect next July to raise nearly $253 million for county and city capital projects. Commissioners previously approved an intergovernmental agreement dividing the proceeds among the county and its seven cities.

Commissioner K. Scott Gordon abstained from the Aug. 1 vote, explaining that he wanted to avoid a potential conflict of interest if his architecture firm was ever retained to do work funded by the initiative.