Dodge County and the cities within it are beginning negotiations for the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) distribution.
At a called meeting in the Dodge Superior Courtroom, Dodge County Attorney John Harrington presented facts showing population changes according to the 2000 Census and 2010 Census for the various cities and unincorporated Dodge County. In 1999, population did distribution of the LOST.
According to the census figures the changes in population are as follows: Chauncey had a population of 295 in 2000 and 342 in 2010; Chester had a population of 1,310 in 2000 and 1,596 in 2010; Eastman had a population of 5,440 in 2000 and 4,962 (which is being disputed) in 2010; Milan had a population of 506 in 2000 and 364 in 2010; Rhine had a population of 422 in 2000 and 394 in 2010 and unincorporated Dodge County had a population of 11,198 in 2000 and 14,138 in 2010.
These figures, broken into percentages, would be: Dodge County unincorporated, 64.8651%; City of Rhine, 1.80767%; City of Milan, 1.67003%; City of Eastman, 22.76564%, City of Chester, 7.32244% and City of Chauncey, 1.56905%.
Attorney Harrington also provided information showing that in 1999 the City of Eastman and county provided funding together for aging, airport, chamber of commerce, historical society, library and recreation totaling $256,368.00. In 2011 the county is providing all funding for the above totaling $348,100.00. It was noted that both the City of Eastman and Dodge County both contribute additional funds to the airport on a voluntarily basis and the City of Eastman pays half for the financial audit of the recreation department yearly.
Commission chairman Dan McCranie requested that each city provide a plan for requesting proposals from the municipalities and county government for distribution of the funds be sent to county manager Kelly Bowen by October 14, 2011. All the proposals will be copied and sent back to each interested party. A second meeting will then be called to discuss the proposals.
According to the LOST legal requirements, the county and cities have a total of 60 days from the first meeting, which was held on Thursday, September 15, 2011, to agree on distribution of the funds. If no agreement is met, mediation will begin and if mediation does not produce an agreement, the issue will be settled in court.
