Habersham County is moving ahead with plans to put a sales tax referendum before voters this fall. County commissioners met with elected officials from Habersham’s seven municipalities Tuesday night to discuss a proposed transportation special local option sales tax. If approved by voters, the county’s sales tax rate would increase from 7% to 8% beginning next April.
The penny-on-the-dollar tax is expected to generate $44 million over five years to maintain the county’s roads and bridges. Habersham County Manager Alicia Vaughn pitched the T-SPLOST plan to city representatives, pointing out the need for funds to repair deteriorating infrastructures within the county.
“We have a backlog of projects and endless calls and requests daily for roads and storm drains to be fixed,” she explained. “With the increased traffic throughout the county as we continue to grow, the needs for road and bridge work will grow as well.”
Currently, Habersham County has 500 miles of paved roads and over 50 bridges that have to be maintained. There are also miles of unpaved roads that citizens would like to see paved.
Habersham County citizens last voted on T-SPLOST in 2018. The referendum failed with a vote of 54% against and 46% for. Vaughn believes the vote then was close enough to show there’s already some support for TSPLOST. “We’ve just got to get the message out of why T-SPLOST can make such a difference in our county and for our citizens,” she said. When asked if the T-SPLOST revenue would be used to take care of what the county has in place already, or would be focused on future needs, Vaughn pointed out, “We have a lot of catching up and maintenance to do right now. We’re behind in what already needs to be done.”
‘We want this’
Baldwin Mayor Joe Elam knows firsthand the benefits of T-SPLOST monies. His city is located in both Banks and Habersham counties. Banks County passed its T-SPLOST referendum in 2018.
“By the time this T-SPLOST runs out in September 2023, 65% of all the Banks County roads in the city of Baldwin will be repaved,” Elam says. “If T-SPLOST is approved again, we’ll have 95% of all the Baldwin roads in Banks County repaired.”
Elam is a firm supporter of the proposed T-SPLOST in Habersham County as well. “T-SPLOST is good for the community,” he says. “We want this.”
Habersham County Commissioner Bruce Palmer says that repaving the county’s roads is woefully behind.
“We should be on a twenty-year rotation for repaving all our roads, but we’re actually on a sixty-year rotation,” Palmer explains. “That doesn’t mean that some roads in the county don’t get attention more often than that, because those that are heavily traveled need maintenance more often.”
Officials view T-SPLOST funding as critical on a county-wide basis.
“The money we have in the county’s general budget does not begin to meet the needs we’re facing with our roads and bridges,” Vaughn states. “We have no extra room in the general budget to pull from.”
Those funding issues have become more severe with the current economic conditions. The extreme increase in the cost of petroleum is especially taking a toll since it’s an important element in the production of asphalt.
Habersham County Director of Public Works Jerry Baggett shared that in the county’s summer program of repaving roads, the costs have increased from $115,000 to $161,000 per mile. The cost of paving dirt roads is significantly higher.
“The cost increase we’re facing means we can do less with the money we have in the budget –– less than we even planned on,” says Baggett.
County road superintendent Steve Worley shared that the original plan was to repave 16 miles of pavement, but the rise in costs means the project’s actual costs would be 80% more than was originally budgeted.
“From here on, we just have to recognize that we’ll get a whole lot less done for our money,” he says.
Commissioner Trench states that T-SPLOST could do a lot of positive things for Habersham County. “Positive approval of this referendum will really benefit our citizens,” he emphasizes.
‘Outside’ money
One of the benefits T-SPLOST supporters tout is that visitors to the county will help pay for the costs of taking care of the roadways, bridges, and storm drains. The county projects that 35-40% of the $44 million in funding will come through those who live outside of Habersham.
In preparation for the November election, the Habersham County Board of Commissioners expects to receive each city’s signed IGA (the Intergovernmental Agreement for the Use and Distribution of Proceeds Generated by the 2022 Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Referendum) by the time the Board meets in July. County residents will have several opportunities to hear the complete proposal and ask questions during a series of town hall meetings scheduled next month as follows:
- Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday, July 12th, 10 am, at the Cornelia Community House
- Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, July 20th, 6 pm, in the Habersham EMC Community Room
- Facebook Live Virtual Q & A Sessions on Wednesday, July 6th, 1 pm, and on July 13th, 1 pm, on Habersham County Facebook
This article has been updated to reflect that it was commissioner Palmer, not Tench, who addressed the issue of repaving the county roads
