Hall County and area municipal officials will gather today to begin laying the groundwork for a new special purpose local option sales tax. According to Hall County Administrator Randy Knighton, officials will hear a presentation regarding the history of SPLOST. Officials also want to gauge interest in proceeding with an extension of the tax. “(The meeting) gets cities and the county on the same page about SPLOST VI,” said Gainesville City Manager Kip Padgett, adding it also prepares the stage for engaging the public on its interest in a SPLOST VII. SPLOST VI was approved by voters in 2009 and is set to expire next year. “It will be extremely important ... to develop a public participation program that will seek input from citizens in developing a SPLOST (project) list,” Knighton said.