Counties, Cities Can Still request LOST Mediation Services
Georgia's cities and counties still have time to enlist a University of Georgia mediation team made up of faculty from the Vinson Institute and Fanning Institute to help them agree on how best to distribute Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenue over the next 10 years.
Nearly half of the local governments that requested mediation have already reached LOST distribution agreements. Only a few weeks remain before the November 1 deadline to reach a settlement without heading to court, however.
LOST is a 1 percent sales tax that provides operating and capital funds for counties and the cities within them. State law requires cities and counties to review and approve revenue distribution contracts after every census, and reaching agreements can become a thorny problem.
For governments that come to a stalemate, the Vinson Institute has partnered with the Fanning Institute to offer LOST mediation services. One or two mediators work with representatives from Georgia counties and cities, often helping them to reach an agreement in a single one-day session, said Murray J. Weed, program manager of the Vinson Institute's Governmental Training, Education, and Development section and one of the eight mediators in the partnership.
"Even in the ones we haven't been able to finish in a day, we've been able to get them to continue a dialogue," Weed said.
So far, mediators have facilitated agreements between Brunswick and Glynn County; Crisp County and Cordele; Douglasville and Douglas County; Greene County and its five cities; and Americus and Sumter County.
All of the mediators are attorneys. Besides Weed, mediators from Vinson are Ted Baggett, Anna Boling, and Betty Hudson, and mediators from Fanning are David Hooker, Raye Rawls, and Emily Boness.
