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June 8, 2010

Will voters buy regional SPLOSTs?

From staff, wire reports

In 2012, residents in 15 counties — including Murray and Whitfield — will be able to vote on a regional 1 percent sales tax to pay for transportation improvements.

The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) is part of the statewide transportation plan signed into law earlier this month. Some local officials wonder how much support it will receive.

“It’s getting very mixed reviews,” said Mike Babb, chairman of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners. “Some people don’t think it has a chance of passing in their communities because of all the other SPLOSTs. I have not talked to any official that’s going to actively get out and promote the passage of it from the standpoint of this is the greatest thing.”

The idea of a regional or statewide SPLOST had been talked about for three years. The transportation plan divides the state into 12 regions. Voters will be asked during the 2012 presidential primary whether to raise the sales tax by 1 percent to pay for roads, bridges and rail projects in their part of the state over the next 10 years. Only those regions that approve the sales tax increase would have the money to spend.

Murray and Whitfield counties are included in Region 1 along with Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Fannin, Floyd, Haralson, Gilmer, Gordon, Paulding, Pickens, Polk and Walker counties.

Babb is concerned whether voters in Fannin County, for example, would vote to support a project in Floyd County.

“The big concern is doing it on a regional basis because it’s hard to build enthusiasm,” Babb said. “I wish the state had just had the fortitude to say we need another penny across the state because that’s what it amounts to if everybody votes for it.”

Murray County Sole Commissioner David Ridley could not immediately be reached for comment. Ridley has told The Daily Citizen he hopes money from a regional SPLOST could be used for Murray County projects, including the Spring Place bypass.

Spending on transportation in Georgia has lagged well behind the state’s explosive population growth, according to The Associated Press. Georgia spends the second lowest amount per capita in the country on transportation, ahead of only Tennessee. Road projects in Georgia are funded mostly with money from the state’s gasoline tax, but those revenues have tumbled amid recession and increased fuel efficiency.

Perdue was in Dalton last Thursday to sign a bill requiring most adults riding in pickup trucks to wear seat belts and spoke about the transportation plan.

Many have talked about the impact it will have on Atlanta, which is easily the most congested area of the state. For example, the bill gives MARTA, the public transit system for metro Atlanta, more options on how to spend its reserve money. Perdue, however, said Northwest Georgia could benefit from the regional SPLOST money.

“We designed this so that the money that is raised will be used in those districts,” Perdue said. “The projects will be defined by local leadership and regional leadership along with our state planning director to make sure that the local network fits in with the state network. They’ll be able to determine the benefits they’ll see from the investment that will be made. They’ll have the assurance the money will be spent there. And then, in the best spirit of democracy, they can make their own determination at the ballot box.”

The project list “will knit together transportation improvements that connect our cities and regions, making the movement of people and goods faster and more cost-efficient,” according to a press release from the governor’s office.

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