After months of planning, the Jackson County Commission has voted to move forward with a proposed special purpose local option sales tax V vote in November.

During its meeting Monday, the group also approved an intergovernmental agreement outlining how to use proceeds from the 1-cent SPLOST, should voters approve it.

The measures were approved, with commissioner Tom Crow casting the only dissenting vote on both issues.

Among other things, Crow said he was opposed to the SPLOST vote because 100 percent of
Jackson County's proposed share of the funds is not being allocated specifically for debt reduction.

According to county staff, Jackson County would receive 71.01 percent of proposed SPLOST funds. Out of the county's projected $33.7 million share, $23.7 million of it has been ear-marked for debt repayment.

"Over half of our 71 percent is going to retire debt," said Hunter Bicknell, commission chairman, in response to Crow's question. "But we also need money for road maintenance - that's basically the other large item."

As is proposed, the county has allocated $6.8 million for roads, streets and bridges, with the remaining $1.2 million for satellite emergency services facilities and $2 million for parks and recreation.

If voters approve SPLOST, which is estimated to generate $47.5 million over the next six years, the funds would be split between the county, Arcade, Braselton, Commerce, Hoschton, Jefferson, Maysville, Nicholson, Pendergrass and Talmo.