Fayette Citizens for Open Government (FayCOG) is gearing up to attempt to defeat the 1-cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) initiative up for vote in November. The group held a planning meeting on the issue last week.

Organization member Harold Bost suggested, and others agreed, that the most efficient way to get their message out would be through a mailer. Bost presented a check for $2,000 and a sample half-page mailer, saying that he wanted to do his part to demonstrate how strongly he feels about defeating the SPLOST initiative.

Bost said the mailer would cost approximately $10,000 in production and postage if it was sent to 25,000 households.

The mailer contained a significant amount of detail on the SPLOST project. After some discussion, the consensus of the group held that the message should be sharpened and that it should be mailed only to residents who vote regularly. The group agreed that mid-October should be a tentative target date for the mailer.

Also at the meeting, FayCOG member and former commission chairman Greg Dunn gave his impression of the need for the 1-cent sales tax.

“If SPLOST is a no-go you won’t notice any change in how we live now,” he said, adding that some of the proposed SPLOST projects will be needed at some point in the future.

The SPLOST is projected to collect up to $135 million in tax revenues over a six-year period if it is approved by voters in November