What Is OLOST or LOST, and Does Macon-Bibb Have One?

Buy something in Macon-Bibb and the register usually adds 8% sales tax. Four of those eight cents are the state's. The other four are local pennies — and each penny has its own name, its own rules, and its own job. Two of them, LOST and OLOST, exist for a reason most shoppers never hear: to fund everyday government and, in exchange, hold your property-tax bill down.

The short answer

Yes — Macon-Bibb has both a LOST and an OLOST, each a 1% (one-penny) sales tax. They pay for general county operations — the day-to-day services in the budget — and they're the reason the property-tax rate is lower than it would otherwise be. You pay them automatically at checkout; there's nothing to sign up for.

The four local pennies, at a glance

On the Georgia Department of Revenue's rate chart, Bibb County's line reads 8% — L, E, S, O. Decoded:

• L — LOST (Local Option Sales Tax): the county's oldest penny, collected here since 1979. Funds general operations and buys down property taxes.
• E — the education penny: the Bibb County School District's sales tax for school construction and other capital projects — a separate government's penny that lapsed in late 2025 and resumed April 1, 2026 after voters approved a new term.
• S — SPLOST: the county's capital-projects penny — buildings, roads, parks only, never day-to-day operations. Its current term began January 1, 2026.
• O — OLOST (Other Local Option Sales Tax): the newest penny, approved by voters in 2021.

Add the state's 4% and you get your 8 cents on the dollar. (One quirk worth knowing: groceries skip the state's 4 cents but still pay the four local pennies — so even "tax-free" food funds these.)

LOST: the original penny

Georgia created the LOST in 1975 precisely to ease local governments' reliance on property taxes. It gives the county an annual funding source for general operations plus a rollback on the property tax bill — state law makes the trade explicit: sales-tax pennies in, property-tax relief out. Bibb County has collected its LOST since April 1, 1979, and unlike SPLOST it doesn't expire on a schedule. (One quiet detail: the state collects all of it at checkout and sends the local share back monthly, keeping a 1% administrative fee on local option taxes.)

OLOST: the consolidation penny

The OLOST is a Georgia oddity: only consolidated governments — merged city-county governments like Macon-Bibb — are eligible for it. On November 2, 2021, almost 81% of Macon-Bibb voters approved one. The county pitched it as funding for services like public safety and road repairs, projecting at the time that it would ultimately roll back property taxes by nearly 40%. Collections started January 1, 2022. State law ties the OLOST to property-tax relief even more tightly than the LOST: to keep collecting it, the county had to cut its rate by 5 mills, and every year since, the county rate is rolled back by the millage that the two everyday pennies brought in the year before — 12.727 mills on the 2026 bill, per the county's levy advertisement. The budget page shows the rollback year by year.

One thing to watch: the end of the OLOST's current term. The Georgia Department of Revenue lists it as December 31, 2026; the county's 2021 referendum ordinance says the tax expires after December 31, 2027. No sales-tax question appears on the county's composite sample ballot for the November 3, 2026 election (revised Sept. 17). As of Sept. 28, 2026, the county had not announced what happens to the penny when the term ends — so its future is a decision officials or voters still have to make.

What these pennies are NOT

• Not the school tax. The education penny belongs to the Bibb County School District — a separate government with its own elected board. Same 8% total, different government's pocket.
• Not SPLOST. SPLOST money can only build things; LOST and OLOST money can run things. That operations-versus-capital line is the sharpest divide in local tax law.
• Not the state's share. The first 4 cents go to Georgia, not to anyone in Macon-Bibb.

What it means for your bill

You'll never fill out a form for LOST or OLOST — they collect themselves, a few cents at a time, from everyone who shops in the county (including visitors, which is part of the appeal). The payoff shows up somewhere less visible: the millage rate on your property-tax bill is lower than it would be without them. If you want to see the whole picture of where the money lands, start with the budget explainer and who handles property taxes.

Where to go next

• What is SPLOST? — the capital-projects penny, and why it can't pay salaries.
• Where your SPLOST penny actually went — the receipts.
• What is a millage rate? — the number these pennies push down.
• Ask Mulberry — ask what any line of the 8% does.

Georgia DOR — General Rate Chart, effective July 1, 2026 (dor.georgia.gov) — row 011 Bibb: 8%, codes L E S O (LOST, Educational, SPLOST, Other); the state's 4% is included in the jurisdiction rate.

Georgia DOR — Historical Sales Tax Chart, July 2026 (dor.georgia.gov) — Bibb rows: LOST effective 04/01/1979; Other Local (OLOST) 01/01/2022–12/31/2026; SPLOST current term from 01/01/2026; ELOST 01/01/2021–09/30/2025 and 04/01/2026–03/31/2031.

Macon-Bibb County — "OLOST Overwhelmingly Approved by Voters" (maconbibb.us) — the November 2, 2021 referendum; almost 81% approval; the one-penny tax to fund services including public safety and road repairs, with the county projecting it would ultimately roll back property taxes nearly 40%.

ACCG — County Revenues handbook (accg.org) — LOST created by the General Assembly in 1975 to ease reliance on property taxes, providing an annual funding source for general operations and a rollback on the property tax bill; LOST does not lapse absent a referendum or a lapsed distribution certificate; OLOST available only to consolidated governments; the DOR collects local option sales taxes and remits them monthly after withholding a 1% administrative fee.

Macon-Bibb County — OLOST referendum ordinance, July 20, 2021 (BoardDocs) — new Code § 26-112(a): the tax "shall expire and cease to be effective after December 31, 2027."

Georgia General Assembly — HB 575 (2021), O.C.G.A. § 48-8-97 (gov.georgia.gov) — the consolidated-government OLOST: proceeds spent only under the property-tax rollback formula (a one-time 5-mill reduction, then an annual rollback matching the prior year's proceeds); the term ends on "the final day of the fifth calendar year following the year in which the increased tax rate became effective."

Macon-Bibb County — 2026 property-tax levy advertisement (maconbibb.us) — five-year history: gross rate, the "Less Rollback (Local Option Sales Tax)" line (12.7266 mills for 2026), and the net rate of 9.575.

Last reviewed September 28, 2026. Rates are verified against the DOR chart for the quarter beginning July 1, 2026. Updated Sept. 28, 2026: the state and the county give different end dates for the OLOST's term (Dec. 31, 2026 vs. Dec. 31, 2027) — earlier versions gave only the state's — so check for renewal news either way.