Dougherty County held a Special Called Meeting on Tuesday afternoon following the offer from the City of Albany regarding the split of SPLOST funds.

The city's offer was a 64/36 split, with 64% going to the city and 36% to the county.

In addition to that split was an added 3.5 million dollar sewer contribution from the county payable within the first year.

The city declined the re-adoption of a LOST split at 60/40 favoring the city and asked for a non-binding referendum question on the November ballot to see if citizens believed both governments should be consolidated.

At the county's meeting on Tuesday they responded to the city's offer.

Dougherty County accepted the 64/36 split, but countered that the 3.5 million dollar allocation for the sewer project be distributed over the course of two years instead of one.

The county accepted the removal of LOST from the agreement, but declined putting the question of government consolidation on the ballot.

Chairman Chris Cohilas and a few commissioners noted that they support the idea of a consolidated government, but that the focus should be on the issue at hand which is the split of the SPLOST funds.

The majority of county commissioners were against the idea of government consolidation.

"I want to make it very clear my position on that is I'm very supportive of that, but I do believe it's a separate issue and we don't have a consensus if I called that issue today, I don't have 4 votes to move that issue forward," explained Cohilas.

While the county did come to an unanimous motion on their counter offer, they did share their thoughts on how they believed this process has been.

Cohilas said that he believed the city has had tunnel vision when it comes to their belief of being the priority for funding.

He noted that 95% of individuals in the Dougherty County Jail are individuals that reside inside of city limits, and that the vast majority of crime takes place in the city.

Commissioners agreed with his frustrations as Commissioner Victor Edwards expressed how he believed the city has taken the county for granted.

"We give and we give but I never see the reciprocal part, that's my problem," said Edwards.

Commissioner Gloria Gaines added that they always hear about the obligations that the city has and not enough about the obligations that the county has.

Emotions aside, Cohilas was hopeful that this counter offer will be accepted as he believed the two entities had come a long way over the last few months.

While the Secretary of State has given the two entities an informal extended SPLOST deadline, Cohilas encouraged both parties to meet the formal one.

The extended deadline would not be until August 19th, but Cohilas requested for the city to try and take action to have a solidified agreement by Thursday when the Board of Elections meeting occurs to meet the formal deadline for SPLOST.