HINTS ARE BEING DROPPED that the Floyd County Commission may discuss putting a new penny of special purpose, local option sales tax (SPLOST) on the ballot later this year. Surely that can’t be to muffle repeated calls in this space about the urgent need to do that very thing?

Oh, wait ... Interim County Manager Gary Burkhalter said a citizens committee to pick proposals and size/duration of any referendum might be formed “in the next few months.” Guess it really isn’t urgent. And specific mention was made of the need for the same “capital projects” as were on the proposal voters defeated almost a year ago. If at first you don’t succeed, try it again.

There’s no question but that such are needed, being heavily things like heavy equipment, police cars and other stuff normally replaced out of the regular budget but not done in the county’s recent “robbing of Peter to pay Paul” to balance its budget in a time of declining tax revenues. There’s probably no other way to play “catch up” now without inflicting something worse, such as a millage increase.

Frankly, any repeated referendum better be accompanied by a written pledge of “never again” regarding making the routine rotation of tires a “special need” and also contain specific new things (not just replacement of the old) that would help juice up the local economy, such as the proposed Tennis Center of Georgia.

Otherwise, the ballot-box odds will be of the “fat chance” variety.