Twiggs County SPLOST Funds To Be Audited

JEFFERSONVILLE,Georgia  (41NBC/WMGT) – A Twiggs County resident is accusing county commissioners of misusing money. As a result Twiggs County Commissioners are now asking the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts for an audit.

Chris Bowen, a Twiggs County resident, went before the board of commissioners Tuesday, requesting an audit into the county’s penny sales tax funds.

Bowen said money collected through the Special Local Option Sales Tax from 2004 to 2009, was used to pay back a debt that the development authority acquired, when it purchased 500 acres of land in the county.

He said that, created a 2.2 million dollar bond in 2005.

“The use of those funds which today has been 1.6 million dollars in SPLOST and another 1.4 million to go over the next seven to eight years have been inappropriate,” said Bowen.

Bowen, a retired Chief Financial Officer, said for eight years the county has used SPLOST funds to make payments, for the debt on the development authority’s books. He added that is illegal according to the Georgia code regarding how SPLOST funds should be used.

The commissioners voted and approved the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts audit, except for commissioner Donald Floyd.

Floyd and current commissioner Tommie Lee Bryant, both served on the BOC when the penny tax was being collected.

All of the twiggs county commissioners declined comment on the audit.