Newton County's five municipalities will have a chance to present the county government with their SPLOST requests in a meeting at 6 tonight at the Historic Courthouse downtown.

Chairman Kathy Morgan said each of the county's five municipalities will have 30 minutes to present their requests for Special Purpose Local Sales Tax projects to the Board of Commissioners.

Morgan said the meeting will allow both sides to ask questions and will lead to more open communication.

The deadline to approve a resolution calling for a 2011 SPLOST list is Jan. 4. Commissioners must pare down as much as $180 million in proposed projects to about $55 million in projected SPLOST funding.

If the county and cities can agree on projects, they can sign an intergovernmental agreement, which allows the county to collect the additional 1 percent sales tax for six years instead of the usual five. If an agreement is approved, the SPLOST collection would end June 30, 2017.