Oconee County commissioners are projecting that renewal of the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) next May would result in $90 million in revenue and are planning to spend between $24 million and $30 million of that money for recreation and park facilities.
The plan is to dedicate another $13.3 million to retire two General Obligations Bonds, one from 2002 issued for construction of Oconee Veterans Park and the other from 2021 for construction of the new county Administrative Building.
Between $9.8 and $11.8 million in SPLOST revenue is to go to the county’s four cities, with Watkinsville getting between $5.8 and $7.0 million, and Bogart getting between $2.4 and $2.9 million. The allocation is based on population size. North High Shoals will get between $990,000 and $1.2 million, and Bishop will get between $592,500 and $714,431.
While commissioners have talked about renewal of SPLOST since they met in a strategic planning meeting in January, Commission Chair John Daniell presented the first concrete plans for spending from the 1 percent sales tax at the Commission meeting on Tuesday night.
Daniell said that he’ll be meeting with the mayors of the four cities on Dec. 15 and expects to have Intergovernmental Agreements with them on participation in SPLOST in January.
The Board will be asked to approve a resolution at the end of January asking the county’s Board of Elections and Registration to put a referendum authorizing renewal of SPLOST on the May 19 General Primary/Nonpartisan Election ballot, Daniell said on Tuesday night.
Daniell said the Board will seek citizen input, at a Town Hall meeting and at other events, early next year.
The Tuesday meeting lasted nearly two hours and included a rezone for a new QuikTrip on U.S. 78 at Hog Mountain Road and for a new small shopping center off Virgil Langford Road and acceptance of a farm south of Bishop for inclusion in the county’s Farmlands Preservation program.
SPLOST And Bonds
At the January strategic planning meeting of the Board, Daniell proposed, and the commissioners informally approved, putting renewal of the 2021 SPLOST on the May 2026 ballot. The six-year tax does not expire until the end of 2027.
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| Daniell 11/4/2025 |
The Board also gave tentative approval to putting renewal of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) on next year’s November ballot. That tax will expire in March of 2027.
Both are 1 percent sales taxes. With the state’s 4 percent tax, the county’s Local Option Sales Tax (which does not require citizen approval for renewal), and the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax approved by voters on Tuesday (Nov. 4), the county’s cumulative sales tax is eight cents on the dollar.
Daniell gave some highlights of some of the proposed spending categories at the Tuesday meeting, using two sets of figures for many of the expenditures.
He said the county will use one set, based on the referendum language based on receiving the $90.4 million in revenue, and another set, based on budgeting at 82 percent, with a total of $75 million in receipt.
The exception is for payment of the bonds, which will be retired even if the lower amount is received.
The county will pay off the remaining $3.75 million in principal from the original $11.8 million in bonds sold in 2002 for Oconee Veterans Park. The bonds are not scheduled to be paid off until 2033.
The county also will pay off the remaining $9.5 million for the $12.5 million in General Obligation bonds sold in 2021 for construction of the Administration Building. Those bond payments are scheduled to run through 2034.
Other SPLOST Spending
Daniell said $5 million to $6.3 million in a new SPLOST will be used for water and sewer facilities and will be go toward “renewal and replacement of lines and other infrastructure. So we'll be replacing water lines and sewer lines as they age out.”
Also included is “some new equipment, and we may use it for some plant upgrades for drinking water” either at Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir in Walton County or the Bear Creek Reservoir in Jackson County.
“We're also asking the citizens again for farmland protection money,” Daniell said. “This will be from $600,000 to $750,000, dependent on collections. So this allows for permanent easements on farmland to prevent future development on the property.”
The county will use $6.4 million to $9 million for emergency services and equipment, Daniell said. Included will be replacement of tanker trucks, some of which are 20 years old or older, he added.
Also included will be replacement of fire engines, phased replacement of EMS vehicles, renewal and replacement of fire and medical equipment, “as well as any fire station upgrades that may be needed,” Daniell said.
SPLOST will include $650,000 budgeted for Historic and Scenic properties, Daniell said, and $5.2 million for General County Facilities.
The $5.2 million is for “renewal and replacement projects on county buildings, security and access upgrades, parking lots, roofs, whatever needs to be replaced on our facilities,” he said.
The budget list includes $5.9 million for a public safety radio system, radio replacement, and pager replacement, Daniell said.
Also budgeted is $4.1 million for Sheriff’s Office vehicles.
“The vehicle life is four years,” Daniell said. “So we're trying to replace nine vehicles per year.”
Parks and Recreation
“Parks and recreation is going to get the big bulk of this SPLOST, if it's approved by the citizens,” Daniell said. The budgeted amount is $24.0 million, with the referendum amount $30.8 million.
Included is a gym roof replacement at Herman C. Michael Park on Hog Mountain Road. Other improvements at that park are upgraded field lighting, fencing, stormwater management, walking trail, playground, signage, and parking.
The Bogart Sports Complex on South Burson Avenue will get upgraded field lighting, fencing, signage, walking trail, parking, and playground, he said.
Oconee Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road also will get lighting upgrades, improved signage, turf upgrades, improved parking area, playground upgrade, and improvements to the walking trail.
The county will follow its master plan for upgrades at Heritage Park on U.S. 441 south of Farmington and for design and building the new Dawson Park, Daniell said.
“Currently, engineering is underway for phase one” at Dawson Park on Rocky Branch Road, Daniell said, “which includes fields, road infrastructure, and pad ready for the gymnasium. The gym is in the concept phase.”
QuikTrip Rezone
Property Owners Amir and Connie Tahamtan were before the Board on Tuesday asking to rezone 3.3 acres from an 8.6 acre parcel on U.S. 78 (Monroe Highway) at Hog Mountain Road (SR 53) from AG (Agricultural) to B-2 (Highway Business District).
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| Eberhardt 11/4/2025 |
The Tahamtans also were asking the Board for a Special Use Permit to allow for three truck diesel fueling islands.
Attorney Eric Eberhardt, representing both QuikTrip and the Tahamtans, said QuikTrip plans to purchase 2.8 acres from the Tahamtans and obtain an easement for the additional 0.5 acres covered by the rezone request.
The easement will allow QuikTrip to construct its full access entrance on Hog Mountain Road. The diesel fueling stations will be behind the convenience store near to the Hog Mountain Road driveway.
The rezone request before the Board on Tuesday leaves that 5.3 acres zoned AG (Agricultural).
“The future land use for this property is commercial,” Eberhardt told the Board, and the rezoned easement will be used for access to the remaining 5.3 acres.
No one other than Eberhardt spoke on behalf of QuikTrip, and the only person speaking in opposition was Brenda Jennings, who lives on Hog Mountain Road near the proposed development.
“We already have a Stripling’s service station and food market where there's a lot of traffic right there already,” she said. “And because of all the subdivisions that are being built along Highway 53, the traffic flow is already horrible. I can hardly get out of my driveway... So, I'm hoping you're going to give that consideration.”
The Commission vote was 3 to 0 to approve the rezone and grant the Special Use Permit. Commissioner Amrey Harden was not present at the meeting.
Research Quarter
Burgess Jennings Mill Land LLC and J.G. Griffeth Investments LLC were before the Commission on Tuesday asking to change the conditions of a rezone in 2019, with modifications in 2023 and 2024, to allow for uses that were not previously indicated.
Specifically, the developers were asking for approval of plans for a two-building shopping center in the large cleared area abutting the Oconee Connector and between Virgil Langford Road and SR Loop 10.
One of the buildings in the proposed shopping center will be 12,615 square feet in size, and the second will be 12,980 square feet.
Ken Beall from Beall and Company is representing the developer in the rezone request, but he did not attend the Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 20, where no one spoke either in favor of or opposed to the rezone. The Planning Commission recommended approval of the request.
On Tuesday, Beall objected to two conditions the planning staff and the Planning Commission had recommended, one calling for a new traffic study, and the other calling for curb and gutters along a section of the development that Beall said would create stormwater drainage problems.
“I'm a little surprised that these two items are in the staff report in that we turned in an updated traffic study that was dated August of this year,” Beall said. “So the traffic study that we turned in is just now 60 days old.”
“We intentionally did not plan to have curb and gutter on those existing streets because when you have curb and gutter, you actually prevent the water from getting to the road shoulder where it can infiltrate,” Beall said.
No one other that Beall spoke regarding the rezone request on Tuesday, and the Commission unanimously approved the rezone with the stipulation that the traffic study be required only if needed and that the issue of the curb and gutter be reviewed by planning staff once grading on the site is completed.
Variance Requests
The Board heard four variance requests on Tuesday night, denying one and approving three.
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| Funes 11/4/2025 |
Stanley and Gail Goolsby were asking the Boards to allow a metal access building constructed without permits from the county to encroach 32.6 feet into the rear 40 foot setback on their property at 1230 Grayson Lane.
Stanley Goolsby told the Board he and his brother arranged to have the building constructed for their father and after it was built “we figured out and understand that the setback of the rear was different than what we were told from the building company that constructed the building.”
James and Lisa Clay and Lynn Jones, neighbors and former neighbors, objected to the issuance of the variance, saying the county should enforce its code and follow the recommendation of the planning staff that the variance be denied.
The Board voted unanimously to turn down the variance request.
Raymond Funes was before the Board on Tuesday seeking a variance for property at 2131 Hog Mountain Road that currently hosts Tamez BBQ and Costa Alegre as well as a vacant office building formerly used by H&R Block.
Funes told the Board he wants to make use of currently dedicated parking spaces for outdoor seating for Tamez BBQ, necessitating the reduction in parking from 73 to 34. In fact, the outdoor seating would require an addition five parking spaces, by county code.
In the narrative for the request, Funes argued that the Publix shopping center behind the restaurants provided adequate parking.
Funes agreed to reduce the size of outdoor seating and to not allow that to encroach on existing parking. He said he needed to get the variance so he could get an alcohol license.
“We're struggling right now to stay open,” he said, “so we figured if we could provide more sales, then it would probably help us in the long run.”
The Board granted the variance in a unanimous vote.
It also voted to grant a variance to Marvin Gross, 1050 Skipstone Drive, for a guest houses in the front yard and to Drew and Sterling Joiner, 1181 Meriweather Drive, for an accessory building with a floor area greater than 144 feet in the front yard.
Farmland Protection
Thad Padgett, representing the county’s Farmland Preservation Committee, told the Board that the Committee was recommending that the county designate 69.3 acres of the 99.4 acre farm owned by Treva Green for protection.
The farm consists of three separate parcels on the east side of U.S. 441 and extending into the city limits of Bishop. The physical address is 4510 Macon Highway (U.S. 441).
The Athens Land Trust will hold the easement, and Padget said the easement will “prevent future development on the property.”
According to Commission Chair Daniell, the county will use up to $250,000 of SPLOST money as the county’s portion of the easement costs and that the acreage will bring to 993.13 the acres in the county protected by the program.
“Before I conclude,” Padgett told the Board, “I just want to take a moment to recognize the life and legacy of Russ Page, who recently passed on October 25th.”
“I did not know Mr. Page personally,” he continued, “but I do understand I wouldn't be standing here in front of you today if it wasn't for him. His forward thinking, love for farming, and dedication to Oconee County and the creation of this program is kind of where I am, and I'm truly honored to play a small part in continuing his vision and legacy.”
The Board voted unanimously to accept the Committee recommendation.
Oconee County 101
The meeting began on Tuesday with Commissioner Mark Saxon reading a Proclamation recognizing the inaugural class of Oconee County 101.
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| Inaugural Class Oconee County 101 11/4/2025 |
The Board “hereby recognizes and commends the inaugural class of Oconee County 101 for their dedication to learning, service, and community engagement” and “extends its gratitude and appreciation to county staff who devoted their time, energy, and expertise to this program and to building a stronger, more connected Oconee County,” Saxon read.
Oconee County 101 was a joint effort across many of the county’s departments, according to Diane Baggett, Director Communications for Oconee County. Baggett, according to Oconee County Administrator “was the spearhead of this effort.”
Baggett said 20 people participated in the program, which began on August 21 and ran through today (Nov. 6). Citizens filled out an application for the program.
The group met in the county Administrative Building but had sessions at the Road Department, Highway 441 Waste and Recycling Site, Oconee Veterans Park Community Building, the Senior Center, Calls Creek Water Reclamation Facility, the William Daniell House, Eagle Tavern, the Civic Center, Fire Station 2, and Animal Services.
“With this program, we wanted to give citizens the opportunity to learn about all aspects of their local county government,” Baggett said in an email today. “Our goals for this program also include promoting citizen engagement, building trust, and listening to community feedback.”
“We hope that our participants will take what they learn from this program and share with their friends, families, and neighbors,” she continued.
The curriculum included presentations on county finances, property appraisal, tourism and the Welcome Center, planning and code enforcement, elections, parks and recreation, the Board of Commissioners, and county administration.
Baggett said the county plans to offer the program annually. A similar program is run for county employees, she said.
Video
The video below is on the county YouTube channel.
I attended the meeting and recorded video as a backup. The still images used above are from my video.
The meeting gets underway at 1:45 in the video.
The proclamation recognizing the inaugural class of Oconee County 101 is at 4:50 in the video.
Discussion of the QuikTrip rezone begins at 10:34 in the video.
Discussion of the Research Quarter rezone begins at 28:07 in the video.
Hearings on the four variance requests begins at 48:26 in the video.
Discussion of farmland protection program begins at 1:50:30 in the video.
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