Readers have sent some interesting and detailed questions in response to my recent columns about the impending referendum on the Transportation Investment Act.
Commonly called T-SPLOST because of its similarity to other special purpose local option sales taxes, the act mandates regional votes on a 1 percent sales tax increase to fund a specific list of transportation projects.
Voters who go to the polls on Tuesday will see the question on the ballot.
As I have already stated, I plan to vote for T-SPLOST because I think our regional project list has some worthy projects and I don’t see state lawmakers finding other funding for them.
Of course, there are a lot of counter arguments, and I expect T-SPLOST to fail here on the coast.
I’m going to devote the rest of this column to answering some common questions.
After all the broken promises regarding other SPLOST projects, how can we possibly trust local officials to manage this money well and to complete the promised projects?
The additional 1 percent sales taxes would be collected by the state. The Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission will be involved with disbursement of the funds, and responsibility for project delivery falls to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
The law states that the final project list cannot be changed and that GDOT must build all the projects on the voter-approved list.
All tax money raised in a region would pay for projects in that region.
I looked closely at the methodology used to estimate the sales tax revenue over the next decade. I’m kind of a numbers guy, and I’m relatively confident the projections are realistic and adequate contingencies have been built into the process.
Isn’t the gas tax supposed to cover all these road projects?
Georgia’s motor fuel excise taxes currently bring in approximately $1 billion per year.
Assuming that the gas tax is not raised, that the state’s economy continues to recover and that future revenues will be distributed relatively equitably around the state, the gas tax would pump about $1 billion into road projects in our 10-county region over the next decade.
The T-SPLOST would add $1.6 billion to that sum.
I would encourage voters to look closely at the project list.
Obviously, those who are dissatisfied with that list should vote no.
Those who don’t want to see additional transportation spending should vote no.
Those who want less transportation spending and less local control of that spending should also vote no.
I would vote no if I thought that state lawmakers would still find a way to fund certain crucial projects sooner rather than later. But there’s no reason to think other funds will materialize for the majority of projects on the list.
So what about the politics after Tuesday?
It’s possible the T-SPLOST will fail in all 12 regions of the state. That would be a clear message to lawmakers that Georgians do not approve of this newly created system.
But what message will they hear exactly?
Some voters are opposed to tax increases no matter what. Some voters are so distrustful that they wouldn’t be happy with any other funding mechanism.
Some voters might have no problem with the idea of increasing consumption taxes like the gas tax, but they might vote no simply because they don’t like their regional project lists.
Still, if T-SPLOST fails in every region, lawmakers will be obligated to go back to the drawing board.
While it’s possible that all 12 regions could vote no, it looks likely that a few will approve the new sales tax.
Within individual regions, there will be some grumbling in counties that don’t support the tax but are nevertheless forced to pay it. That won’t be the case for citizens of Chatham County, however, since the support of Savannah voters is critical to T-SPLOST’s passage.
But how will the governor and state lawmakers respond if only a few regions support the referendum?
Since our state government is dominated by conservatives who have to appeal to an even more conservative electorate, I don’t see the state sending additional money into regions where the referendum fails.
In fact, regions that pass the tax will get an added boost from a little-discussed provision of the law. Regions that approve T-SPLOST will only have to match 10 percent of GDOT local maintenance and improvement grants, while regions that don’t approve T-SPLOST will have to match 30 percent.
Plus, lawmakers from regions that approve the tax will fight hard against any attempt to divert money to projects in regions that vote it down.
It seems likely the vote in the Atlanta region will largely determine the T-SPLOST politics after Tuesday. Atlanta has the most pressing needs in the state and the 10-year tax is expected to raise $1.8 billion.
So what happens if Atlanta passes T-SPLOST and most other regions reject it? What happens if a few regions pass it but Atlanta voters reject it? How will the state move forward in those cases?
One can only speculate.
You can find the coastal regional project list at this link: http://www.dot.ga.gov/localgovernment/FundingPrograms/transreferendum/Do...
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.