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Town hall meeting set on tax referendum
Republicans organize event Monday night
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Forsyth County News

If you go

What:

 

Republican Party of Forsyth County SPLOST town hall meeting

• When:

 

 

• Where:

 

 

Center at Charles Place, 595 Dahlonega Hwy.
6:30 p.m. Monday

Community discussion of the 1-cent sales tax referendum will continue Monday as the Republican Party of Forsyth County holds a town hall meeting on the issue.

Early voting began Monday on the proposed six-year extension of the special purpose local option sales tax, or SPLOST. Election Day is Nov. 8.

The tax is projected to generate $200 million between 2013-19 to pay for a new courthouse, jail expansion, road improvements and other projects.

Both supporters and opponents of the measure will get a chance to present their cases at the outset of the meeting, said Ethan Underwood, chairman of the county GOP.

David Seago, co-chair of Citizens for Progress, will speak in favor, and Steve Voshall, chairman of the Forsyth County Tea Party, will present the opposition.

Mediators will then collect written questions from the audience. In debate style, each side will get a chance to respond in alternating order, Underwood said.

"We want to make sure we address the issues," he said. "There are a lot of different projects on this SPLOST vote and people have questions about how the funding mechanism works."

The debate will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Forsyth County Center at Charles Place. It’s expected to wrap up by 8 p.m.

The local GOP has opted not to take a position on the sales tax referendum, Underwood said.

"We’ve got good Republicans on both sides of the issue," he said. "So we thought the best thing to do is to serve as a forum and get information out to help voters make an educated vote on SPLOST."