Citizens Protest SPLOST On Saturday

Saturday during Winterfest, a few citizens stood in the downtown Clayton area holding signs expressing their opposition to the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax which is on the ballot during this March Special Election.

One of those protesting was Tim Cook, who is curious as to why the city of Clayton is not listed to directly receive any funds from SPLOST.

“From what I understand, the County has eliminated Clayton from the list of SPLOST recipients,” said Cook. “I’d like an explanation for that. I think a majority of the funding that goes into SPLOST, or a good portion of it anyways, comes from within the city limits.”

Cook also questioned the way the consolidation effort is taking place.

“The perception is that the reason they are withholding it from Clayton is that they want to consolidate and have the county take over the water and sewer department,” said Cook. “I agree that it needs to be consolidated, but it needs to be done responsibly and through negotiations.”

Rabun County Commission Chairman Butch Darnell explained the county’s reasoning for not specifically naming Clayton in the list of SPLOST recipients.

“Rightly or wrongly, we used this to help get them to the table on this water and sewer issue which we had been at for a number of years and we never did seem to be able to get it to a point where we could move it forward,” said Darnell. “I think that it is going to move forward, I think we’ll probably be able to work out the differences, and we’ll all be able to participate in this.”

Darnell said that while Clayton is not listed in the SPLOST, there is money to provide the city of Clayton.

“Now, do we want to leave them out?” asked Darnell. “No. Matter of fact, we’ve got money in there for that specific purpose. We know the citizens of Clayton are a part of the county, and we are very interested in taking care of them.”

Clayton City Manager Cissy Henry said the protest had nothing to do with the city of Clayton or Winterfest.