Douglas County District 4 Commissioner David Latham expressed concern Thursday about the upcoming Nov. 3 special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) referendum to build a new jail, in light of the recent flooding losses.

“We need to take a long look and decide if it’s the proper thing to do, considering what we have on the plate now,” Latham told a 11:30 a.m. Thursday called Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting. “I can’t see us being able to find a lot of support now.”

The Nov. 3 ballot asks voters to decide if they want a one-cent SPLOST to back a $150 million bond issue to build a new county jail on property near the courthouse. The SPLOST would run for six years or until the $150 million is raised, whichever comes first.

“If we could exchange one SPLOST for another, I’d agree with you,” replied Commission Chairman Tom Worthan.

However, he said election laws don’t allow it and it’s too late to add roads to the November ballot or stop the election process.

“We’d have to start all over,” he said. “We couldn’t have a vote on a roads SPLOST until next July. It’d be 2012 before we’d start getting SPLOST money for roads. I hope we have them repaired by then.”

Worthan noted that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is backing a statewide one-cent tax to pay for roads. That proposal will probably come up in the 2010 General Assembly.

“Just because we have floods doesn’t mean the need for a jail goes away,” he added.

“I don’t know how we’re going to put the (road) repairs on the backs of the taxpayers,” Latham said. “I have concerns about the vote and ways to fund all this.”