Thank you to the voters of Newton County for entrusting us with your tax dollars to fund capital improvements much needed for the services provided by the county. It is important now more than ever that we be good stewards of your money and that we continually work to earn your trust.

There is still a lot of work to finalize these projects and continue to earn that trust. We will be defining an implementation and cost plan for each SPLOST project following county policy. We will need to be mindful of M&O costs as well as income streams. Some of these specific plans will take several years to complete before they are ready for presentation.

Once this has been finalized, we will present each project to the Board of Commissioners for their approval to move forward as the funds are earned. Bonding was not approved by the Board of Commissioners so this SPLOST will differ from the previous as we will pay as we go.

There are not words to express our gratitude to the Citizens SPLOST Committee that worked so diligently to inform voters of the importance of this SPLOST and the revenue it generates for capital projects. Elected officials and employees are prohibited by law to perform this task. The Citizens SPLOST Committee volunteered their time and efforts in service to promote SPLOST.

It is important for us as elected officials and county employees to remember each day as we do our jobs, the voters have entrusted us to provide services that you pay for with hard earned tax dollars. We work for the citizens of Newton County and must be good stewards of your tax dollars every day.

Kathy Morgan is chair of the Newton County Commission.