Chattooga County voters have almost always approved the special local option sales tax referendums when they are placed on the ballot. The idea for most voters seems to be that an extra penny in sales tax is better than property taxes going up and that the tax makes “everybody” pay instead of just property owners.

Recently, outgoing Commissioner Blake Elsberry suggested that a SPLOST be used to build a new jail at a cost that could reach $20 million. The commissioner explained that counting on Federal funds is probably not going to work. Elsberry made the comments at a meeting recently concerning the viability of a new jail.

Chattooga County’s forty-seven bed jail has been adequate for decades and the county has spent millions of dollars housing inmates in surrounding county jails. Commissioner Elsberry commissioned a study to find ways to build a new jail facility in the county and those findings were presented at a recent public meeting.

But it will be up to incoming Commissioner-Elect Andy Allen to ask voters to continue the SPLOST tax in 2026 and to determine what those funds would be used for.

And with recent increases in land values that have caused property taxes to skyrocket, future SPLOST votes may not have the smooth sailing that they have experienced in the past.