Tuesday, Bibb commissioners approved asking local legislators to increase the county's hotel motel tax.
But Commissioner Mallory Jones spoke up with concerns about this tax increase on top of two new taxes that could be coming this year.
“If we pass OLOST in November and that’s on the ballot, then we're looking at nine percent sales tax. The highest in the state of Georgia,” says Jones.
When making a purchase in Bibb County, people pay an extra seven-cents for sales tax, but soon that could go up two more cents. It all depends on two votes; a new transformational sales tax that will be on the May ballot and another called an OLOST. The OLOST needs approval from local legislators and then it would be on the November ballot.
If both of those go through, Bibb would have a nine-cent sales tax, but how does that compare to other counties in the state?
Out of 159 counties, only three counties could become higher than nine-cents in 2018. Those are DeKalb, Fulton and Clayton County.
According to the Georgia Department of Revenue, this year people inside the Atlanta City Limits in both Fulton County and DeKalb will have an 8.9 percent sales tax.
Michele NeSmith from the Georgia Counties Association says those numbers should stay the same throughout the year.
Then just a little bit south in Clayton County, the sales tax is eight percent. According to their board of commissioners, there are no plans to increase that number this year.
So if both sales taxes go through in Bibb County making the rate nine-cents, there would be no county in the state with a higher sales tax.
We verified that yes Bibb County could have the highest sales tax rate in the state for 2018.