Webb Wants More Public Information Out About T-SPLOST

In a Fannin County Board of Commissioners Meeting on Tuesday, June 26th, Fannin County Citizen Joe Webb expressed his concerned about how he thought there was not enough public information being provided about the upcoming proposed T-SPLOST referendum.The T-SPLOST referendum, which Fannin County and the other 14 Counties that make up the Northwest Georgia District will have the opportunity to vote on July 31st, is asking citizens in the district if they think this region and the state would be improved by a providing for a 1 percent special district transportation sales and use tax for the purpose of transportation projects and programs for the next ten years.

Webb, who is also a Post One Commisioner Candidate, said in the meeting on Friday that his concerns started after a recent political forum was held on June 14th featuring Post One Commissioner and Chairman Commissioner Candidates.

“I am somewhat concerned that we don’t have enough public information out right now about the T-SPLOST,”

Webb said in the meeting on Tuesday,

“There are a number of things that we need to know as citizens.”

Webb went onto express how he believes that the citizens need to know how much state funding they are going to get and what is the local max from the T-SPLOST.

“We are told that if we vote no we will have a 30 percent local max requirement verses a 10 percent local max requirement. We need to understand that quantification in dollars if we could.”

As of today, Georgia County and City Governments are eligible to apply for what is called Local Maintenance Improvement Grants (LMIGs). LMIGs are grants used for roads and associated projects and typically have a matching element as part of their structure where the County or City Government only has to pay a 30 percent matching proportion of the cost. The new T-SPLOST referendum says that any region that votes yes on the T-SPLOST that counties and cities in that region will only have to pay between 10 and 18 percent of that amount. What Webb wants to know, in order for the citizens of Fannin County to be able to make an intelligent vote on July 31st, is the actually amount of money that the County would have to match in both circumstances.

Webb then explained his understanding of how 25 percent of the revenue collected from the T-SPLOST will only come back to Local Transportation Projects. According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, 75 percent of the revenue collected from the T-SPLOST referendum will be placed in a regional account, while 25 percent of the revenue will be placed in a local, discretionary fund to be used for county and city transportation related projects.

Web further explained how he thought Fannin County would fit into this 25 percent portion of the T-SPLOST. Webb stated that it looked like 80 percent of Fannin County’s funds from this portion would come by what is called center line mileage or the actual length of roadway in one direction of travel and 20 percent of the funds would come by population.

“Do we know how we factor against the other Counties in our district on how we are going to come out?”

asked Webb. Webb then stated that he understood that if Fannin County does vote no on the T-SPLOST then they would not be able vote again on the tax until another two more years.

It was here Webb expressed how he thought it would be good for the citizens of Fannin County that there be a Workshop on the T-SPLOST or an informational sheet of some kind before the next BOC meeting.

Before sitting down, Webb also said how he would like to know what Fannin County budgets would look like if they do encounter the five to ten percent drop in the Tax Digest as predicted, another question that Webb said came out of the recent political forum.

“If we can get more information on out, I think it would be very helpful to the voters, especially on the T-SPLOST,”

said Webb.

Chairman Commissioner Bill Simonds responded to Webb’s question by saying,

“We will know more about this when the Digest comes out. We don’t know what the percentage is now.”

Webb then said he understood how the County’s tax digesters had filed an extension until the 15th of June.

Simonds answered by saying,

“When we get that, we will know more about it, and then we can enlighten everybody.”

As for the T-SPLOST, Simonds illustrated how in his office he had a map of the roads that the T-SPLOST is suppose to effect.

“There are three roads that the T-SPLOST is going to effect in Fannin County. People think that that money is going to go to Atlanta. It’s state law that the Fannin County allotment stays in Fannin County.”

Simonds then said that he would be happy to explain the T-SPLOST to anyone who wanted to come into his office and learn more about it, adding that he would also be happy to have a workshop too. However, a time and date for a workshop was not set in the meeting.

Also in the meeting, the Board of Commissioners did approve two items in the New Business section on the agenda for the meeting. The board appointed Clark Adams to the Library Board to replace Linda Burgess’ term that expires on June 30, 2013, and the board approved a Notice of Participation to elect not to participate in the Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia for newly elected Tax Commissioners. County Clerk Rita Kirby informed FYN that the reason the board chose not to participate in the Employees’ Retirement Services of Georgia, a state agency that provides multiple employer defined benefit pension plans, is because they already participate in a County retirement plan. Kirby said that if they chose to participate in both they would end up paying for State and County service which is something they did not want to do.