Vote no on transportation SPLOST

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July 15, 2012

Vote no on transportation SPLOST

Anonymous Dalton Daily Citizen The Dalton Daily Citizen Sun Jul 15, 2012, 09:56 PM EDT

Five years ago, the chairman of the state transportation board and the state transportation commissioner came to Dalton and urged voters to approve a three-year Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) for transportation work. They promised that if voters OK’d the measure, Atlanta would send plenty of matching dollars this way to make that TSPLOST money go even further.

Well, voters took their word and approved the TSPLOST. It collected around $50 million before expiring and most of the work it will fund has been completed or is under way. And Whitfield County is still waiting on that money from Atlanta.

On July 31, voters in the 15-county Northwest Georgia region, which includes Whitfield and Murray counties, will vote on another 1 percent TSPLOST. This one would last for 10 years and is expected to bring in about $1.5 billion if approved. It would be used to fund 105 transportation projects across the region. It must be approved by a majority of the voters in the region.

But as a story in today’s newspaper reveals, the TSPLOST does not cover the full costs of all of those projects. The plan calls for an additional $370 million in state and federal funds.

What happens if those funds don’t come through? What happens if the TSPLOST doesn’t generate as much money as anticipated? What happens if the projects cost more than predicted? In short, what happens if there’s not enough money to complete all those projects?

The law that created the regional TSPLOST says all of the projects must by completed. And opponents fear that will leave local governments, and local taxpayers, on the hook for any shortfalls. That fear wasn't exactly dispelled by officials from the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission, who helped develop the plan.

More likely, some of those projects will be pushed out into the future if the money doesn’t come in. But who will decide which projects won’t get done?

In a local SPLOST, such as the one Whitfield County voters approved in 2007, local elected officials prioritize the projects the SPLOST will fund and if the money isn’t sufficient, the lower-ranked projects don’t get funded. Voters can see how those officials spend that money and hold them accountable at election time.

But there’s no regional government to direct this transportation plan. It will all be done by transportation department bureaucrats in Atlanta. If voters don’t believe those bureaucrats are spending their money wisely, if they believe those bureaucrats have broken their promises, they have little recourse.

And if some projects are pushed out into the future, that still leaves the question of how they will ultimately be paid for. Skeptics say state officials already plan to come back with a request for another regional TSPLOST when this one ends. Having unfinished projects that must by law be completed will give them the excuse to ask for that extension.

This TSPLOST leaves too many questions unanswered. It demands too much trust in bureaucrats far away from this area. It places too much money in the hands of those bureaucrats.

In short, it’s a bad idea for Whitfield and Murray counties. It’s a bad idea for the Northwest Georgia region. It’s a bad idea for the state.

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