Suwanee Council To Vote on Joining 2014 Gwinnett SPLOST

As a potential public vote nears in Gwinnett on extending the current SPLOST, the Suwanee City Council is poised to take the next step.

According to city documents, the council will have a special called meeting Thursday (July 11) on whether to authorize the city's participation in the potential 2014 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. The current 1 percent (1 cent per dollar) Gwinnett sales tax expires in March 2014.

The Suwanee called meeting will precede the regular monthly workshop, at which official business is not taken.

The called meeting agenda notes:

Gwinnett Municipal Association is in negotiations with Gwinnett County concerning an intergovernmental agreement detailing the proposed categories and distributions for the 2014 SPLOST, which will be considered by voters in the November 5, 2013 referendum.

If Suwanee or any other Gwinnett city does not "opt in" to the Gwinnett SPLOST, that city would not reap any of the monies gathered through the process.

Gwinnett leaders, who are the only ones empowered by state law to call for a public vote, are expected to formally make the request this month. That timetable was outlined in a meeting of city and county leaders in June.

Gwinnett and cities leaders must disclose to the public how monies reaped from a SPLOST would be spent. Officials also must disclose the length of the new tax -- it is expected to be either three or five years.

According to the Gwinnett County website, an average of $11 million per month has been collected from the current tax.

-- Do you think Gwinnett should extend the SPLOST in 2014? Tell us in the comments below.

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