"My interpretation of state law is you're not supposed to use

city resources or time to either support or go against a ballot item or candidate," said

Meeker on Monday. "So in that regard, my view is it wasn't wise

for the council to show support for or against it."

County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn called Meeker's interpretation "extreme."

"Our understanding has always been that you can't spend money" to

promote passage of a initiative, Dunn said.

Meeker said that using staff time even to draft a resolution would qualify

as "spending money."

Brown has been vocal about the manner in which SPLOST revenue would be divided

among Fayette County's cities should voters approve the initiative on

Nov. 2. But he hasn't publicly encouraged defeat of the SPLOST, either.

School board member Janet Smola, who was also at the government meeting,

said she would check with the Board of Education's attorneys to find

out if it would be improper for them to endorse the SPLOST.

But Monday night, the Board of Education met for the final meeting before

the Nov. 2 election and took no action on the matter.

Smola pointed out that by law, the board has to walk a fine line when sponsoring

a bond referendum so it doesn't appear they are promoting passage. She

said that in deciding to pursue the bond vote, the board was very aware that

the SPLOST issue would share the ballot.

"We didn't want to do harm to the SPLOST initiative," she

said. "We transport 22,000 students daily on these same roads that are

part of your plan, so it is in our best interest to support this."

Meanwhile, Dunn tried to clear the air on a number of rumors he said were

circulating about the SPLOST.

"People are saying we're going to raise property taxes if this

fails, and that's simply not true," Dunn said. "There's

no possibility we'd raise taxes. In fact, we've talked very specifically

about not doing that."

Voters have one more opportunity to get information on the SPLOST and ask

questions in the third and final public forum on the issue.

Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the Q&A session is set for 7 p.m.

today at F.A. Sams Auditorium in Fayetteville.

Tim Peece of the URS Corporation, the consultant hired by the county to

develop the long-range transportation plan, will be in attendance to answer

questions.

For more information, call the chamber at 770-461-9983.