Clayton Left Out of SPLOST Agreement (Update)

The city of Clayton is not listed to receive any money from the county SPLOST.

All the cities in Rabun County are listed in an intergovernmental agreement besides the city of Clayton.

That still makes up fifty percent plus one of the total population of the qualified municipalities, the number required to have an intergovernmental agreement.

Council member Debbie Chisolm did not understand the reasoning behind leaving the city out.

“In the last SPLOST we spent every single dime on water and sewer improvements, inside and outside of the city,” said Chisolm. “So I’m just shocked if the county is truly after a consolidated system where all the water and sewer is under one roof, why they wouldn’t want to give the city of Clayton the money to improve the leaks.”

Clayton City Councilwoman Debbie Chisolm responded to the agreement not including Clayton.

“I’m surprised that we never heard back, that we were never made any offer of any kind, and when the county attorney did threaten us, we were told that was not a threat,” said Chisolm. “I guess it was.”

Darnell said the SPLOST needs to be set by Friday in order to be on the ballot in March.

He also said that a major function of this SPLOST involves consolidating the water and sewer within the county, and that Clayton is welcome to participate in that effort and allow the county to purchase their assets, even if they are not listed in the intergovernmental agreement.

“Hopefully we would have some funds put aside in this, so if they do decide that they want to join in this consolidation effort that we would have some funds at that point, if and when they decide they want to become a part of this, that they can still receive funds for it,” said Darnell. “We can still get their assets.”

When asked if the only way Clayton could receive money from SPLOST was to agree to sell their water and sewer assets, Commission Chairman Butch Darnell said this.

“Not necessarily,” said Darnell. “Not necessarily. It could be the only way they could get money but it wouldn’t necessarily be the only way they could get money.”

The special election to vote on SPLOST is scheduled for March 2013.