Oconee County Commission Candidates Call For More Transparency In Dealing With SPLOST

All three of the candidates seeking to fill Post II on the Oconee County Board of Commissioners are proponents of more transparency regarding how the Commission spends revenue from its Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

Only Chuck Horton, however, stated a willingness to have a citizen committee to provide oversight for decisions made by the Commission on the 1 percent sales tax. Other counties, including Athens-Clarke County, have such a citizen committee.

“Maybe we need to have a group of citizens...get a report: Where are we on these projects that you said we were going to do?” Horton said in a one-on-one interview on a wide range of issues confronting the county.

Candidate Marcus Wiedower rejected the idea of a citizen review committee, saying “The oversight is the Commission” in his interview.

Ben Bridges didn’t take a stand on the appropriateness of a citizen oversight committee, but he did say “We need to have more openness to how much money is being collected and where exactly is it going for anybody to see.”

Early voting is underway, and 2,295 voters already have cast their ballots for the Nov. 8 election, which includes the special election to fill the unexpired term for the Post II BOC Commission as well as other local, state and national elections.

For more on the story, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Chuck Horton