This online news website is owned and operated by Becky Watts. The Editor can be reached at 770-468-7583 or at editor(at)PikeCountyTimes(dot)com. Pike County Times is a website for citizens to keep up with local events and stay informed about Pike County government. It began on November 13, 2006 as a watchdog on county government and has turned into an online newspaper.
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By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - The T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) question and answer session with Three Rivers Regional Commission Representative Robert Hiett was sparsely attended by the public but some good questions were asked in this session. Zebulon Mayor Mike Beres conducted the meeting.
Mr. Hiett gave some facts about the T-SPLOST to the public. An estimated $947 million will be raised over the next 10 years if this T-SPLOST is approved by voters on July 31. This will take the place of LARP funding for this date if which has been used for matching grant projects such as roads resurfacing and bridge replacement in individual counties. This issue is fairly complicated so Pike County Times is going to try to make it as simple as possible and give both scenarios with a yes and a no vote for readers.
Voters in this ten county district will give a yes or no vote on the T-SPLOST. If 50% plus one vote yes, then there will be a 1% sales tax over this 10 county district that will fund transportation. If 50% plus one vote no, there will be no T-SPLOST in our 10 county district.
If a majority of the 263,000 registered voters in our ten county district vote yes, there will be a 1% regional sales tax for the next 10 years or until $947 million is raised. If the projected $947 million is raised to sooner than ten years, the tax will end in our 10 county district. If it does not raise the projected amount, the tax will expire at 10 years. This tax money will be used within our 10 county district. Individual counties cannot opt out of this tax. It will pass or fail on the popular vote across the 10 county district. Mr. Hiett advised that if this tax passes, it will not automatically renew in 10 years. The only way to reenact this tax will be for it to pass at the General Assembly in Atlanta again. If the vote passes, there will only be a 10% match for state funding and T-SPLOST funding can be used for the match.
The T-SPLOST is divided by a 25/75% formula based on population and road miles--including dirt roads--in each of the counties. For Pike County, approximately $4.8 million would be used on 5 specific projects: widening of County Farm Road and Williamson-Zebulon Road and widening and adding turn lanes at cross-roads along with resurfacing of Flat Shoals, Hollonville, and New Hope Roads. $11.3 million could be used for any number of local transportation projects.
Mr. Hiett said that there is a need for this T-SPLOST because there is less money coming in nationally from vehicles in the form of fuel taxes. Cars have become more fuel efficient and there will be a projected gap in funding that could be met with this T-SPLOST. He said that the current gas tax does not pay for our current road network. Many states are meeting this gap with toll lanes and other suggestions have included oil barrel surcharges and vehicle miles traveled (VAT) taxes. Georgia has decided to go with a regional tax.
If this tax is enacted, the Department of Revenue will collect the tax and the Georgia Financing and Infrastructure Commission--this is the entity that collects toll fees in Georgia--will hold the money on the list for the projects and release the money to the Georgia Department of Transportation when the project was ready to begin. There is a requirement that all projects have to be underway by the end of the 10 years and there will be Citizen Oversight Committee in each region that will be filled with appointments by the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House. This Citizen Oversight Committee will be comprised of 5 people within the region who will give a yearly report to the General Assembly and Governor identifying deficiencies and evaluating the progress of their region’s T-SPLOST.
If a majority of the voters vote no, then all of the counties in our 10 county district will have to provide local matching funds at 30% for all state transportation grants for a least 2 years. At the end of that 2 years, the region can bring this up for a vote again, and if the majority votes yes, then the tax will be implemented across the region. If the majority votes no, there will be no T-SPLOST for the remainder of the 10 years and all counties in the 10 region district will be required to continue matching all state grants at this higher rate. If the tax does not pass in our district but does pass in other districts around the state, citizens will pay 1% on each purchase in those districts.
For more information about our region’s T-SPLOST, go to www.threeriversrc.com. For the other side of the story on T-SPLOST, just do a simple internet search of T-SPLOST and Georgia.
At the very least, citizens need to get educated on this topic before we cast our vote between now and Election Day on July 31, 2012. And the old adage applies here that if you don't vote, don't complain about the results of the vote.