Dalton City Council approves streetscape work downtown
Aug. 16—Two decades after streetscape improvements began in downtown Dalton, the City Council approved a contract for work on the final section of the original plan.
The council members voted 4-0 Monday to award a $247,000 professional services contract to Goodwyn Mills Cawood of Atlanta to design streetscape improvements to Pentz Street and Cuyler Street. Mayor David Pennington typically votes only if there is a tie.
Streetscape includes the green decorative street signs found in the rest of downtown. City Administrator Andrew Parker said streetscape also involves moving overhead utilities underground, the planting of trees and improvements to water and sewer if needed.
"The sections we will be working on still have overhead utilities," he said. "We are coordinating with Dalton Utilities to move those underground. We will also be studying the water and sewer to see if those need any sort of repair or rehab. It will also include wider sidewalks, street trees and other things consistent with what you see on Hamilton Street. We will also be doing stormwater improvements. We'll be running a larger pipe down Pentz Street, which should help manage stormwater flow better."
Parker said this will complete the final section of the original streetscape plan that was developed in 2000.
The council members also voted 4-0 to approve a Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) agreement that will determine how revenues from that tax are divided among local governments.
The LOST, which had to be initially approved by voters, is a 1% tax on most goods sold in a county that is used by local governments to fund operations. It is different from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), which can only be used for specific capital projects approved by voters and cannot be used for operations.
Under the tentative agreement, Whitfield County would continue to receive 60.457% of LOST revenues, Dalton 36%, Cohutta .72%, Tunnel Hill .929% and Varnell 1.894%.
According to data provided by Dalton and Whitfield County, in 2021 the LOST brought in $21.4 million.
The county Board of Commissioners approved the agreement last week. The Varnell City Council was expected to vote on the measure Tuesday. The Cohutta and Tunnel Hill councils are expected to approve the agreement later this month.
On Thursday, the Dalton City Council members agreed to take the agreement off their Monday agenda unless they received an assurance from the county commissioners that they will roll back the county's 2022 property tax rate to 100% offset any increased revenues from this year's reassessments of residential properties. The Dalton City Council members said they plan a 100% rollback of the city's tax rate from 2.208 mills to 1.998 mills. One mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value.
Parker said Monday night the county commissioners had given the council members their assurance they also would roll back property taxes 100%.
Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen was at the meeting and confirmed afterward that the commissioners will roll back taxes 100%, which would result in a projected rate of 6.319 mills, down .993 mill from 2021.
The council members also voted 4-0 to approve a resolution and intergovernmental agreement allowing the Dalton Building Authority to issue $15.93 million in revenue bonds for Dalton Public Schools.
The school system will use funds from the Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST VI) that begins in January to pay for the revenue bonds; Dalton Public Schools did likewise for ESPLOSTs III and V in order to jump start construction projects and take advantage of favorable interest rates.
A SPLOST is a 1% sales tax on most goods sold in a county. School systems typically use their version to finance capital improvements — like renovating schools and building new ones — technology, safety and security improvements, and buses, but not operating expenses.
Staff writer Ryan Anderson contributed to this story.
