What Is FLOST?
FLOST is a local option 1% sales tax collected county-wide for up to five years. By intergovernmental agreement, proceeds are shared among White County and the Cities of Cleveland and Helen and must be used exclusively for property-tax relief through millage rate rollbacks.
How FLOST Works
Collected at point of sale on eligible purchases within White County
Shared among the County and Cities under an IGA
Applied to reduce property-tax millage rates (not for new general spending)
What FLOST Can and Cannot Do
Can: Reduce/offset property-tax millage rates used to fund government operations
Cannot: Create a negative city millage; any excess returns to the County for further rollback
Cannot: Be used as unrestricted revenue for new projects
Who Pays the Tax
Everyone who shops locally pays the 1% at checkout (residents and visitors)
Sales taxes help shift part of the funding burden to visitors who use our local infrastructure
Duration & Renewal
Collected for up to five years per authorization
Subject to voter approval and compliance with state law and the IGA
Millage Reduction
The chart provides example millage values to show how FLOST can reduce the millage rate. City millage cannot go below zero; if a city’s rollback would be negative, the excess returns to the County to further reduce its rate.
Example Values (from the chart):
White County: Base 8.948 → Reduction 4.478 → Billable After 4.470
City of Cleveland: Base 5.056 → Reduction 5.056 → Billable After 0.000
City of Helen: Base 3.782 → Reduction 3.782 → Billable After 0.000
How to Read These Examples
“Base” is the general fund millage before applying FLOST
“Reduction” is the amount offset by FLOST proceeds
“Billable After” is the millage rate after the rollback is applied
Important Notes
Numbers are illustrative; actual rates depend on collections, distributions, and adopted budgets
Cities cannot have negative millage; excess rollback returns to the County
