CAIRO — Grady County commissioners took a second shot Tuesday at increasing the millage rate.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to increase the millage rate by 4.75 mils. 

The move was made to act as a failsafe if voters end up rejecting the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) in November.

County administrator Buddy Johnson said the county is in the midst of an “emergency budgetary crisis” that will require increased revenues in order to fix.

“You’ve got to stop the bleeding,” Johnson told the commissioners. “We would not be sustained through 2021 if you do not do anything.”

Johnson said the county has several priorities that must be addressed to return to firm financial footing, including upgrading or replacing equipment for the sheriff’s office, detention center, fire department and road department. Some of those goals can be addressed through the SPLOST.

That means the event of the SPLOST passing would allow for some relief to the millage increase, Johnson said, but not all of it. The SPLOST is expected to generate about $1.5 million for the county each year.

Commissioner Ray Prince said he expected the SPLOST’s passage would allow the commissioners to remove as many as 3 mills from the proposed increase.

Prince joined fellow commissioners Keith Moye and Phillip Drew in approving the mil increase. 

“Something has got to be done to fix what we’re going through,” Drew said. “We wouldn’t be having to have to worry about the SPLOST referendum if the prior administration had done their job last year.”

Commissioners LaFaye Copeland and June Knight dissented.

“I just can’t do that to landowners in Grady County,” Knight said.

Copeland said she voted no to honor a promise she made to her constituents last year to not vote for a tax increase

The commissioners previously voted to introduce a 4.75 mill increase in August to act as a failsafe in case the SPLOST is rejected, but the move was later retracted after it was determined that the tax digest could be submitted following the referendum. The state Department of Revenue later clarified that at least 14 days must pass between the first and third legally mandated public hearings for any mil increase, upending the county’s plans to expedite the process following the election.

Two public hearings on the mil increase have been scheduled for Oct. 22 at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. A third hearing is scheduled for Nov. 7 at 9 a.m. after it will have been determined if the SPLOST passed or failed.

Voters will have the opportunity to approve or reject the SPLOST Nov. 5.

Early voting on the SPLOST referendum is already underway and will conclude Nov. 1.

The existing SPLOST, approved by voters in 2014, is set to expire next year.

Revenues for the county are only generated through property taxes, SPLOST funds and local option sales tax (LOST) funds. Johnson said a fourth revenue-generation option, the transportation special purpose local option sales tax (TSPLOST), is not available to the county at this time.