Former Habersham County Commissioner, Lee Mulkey, shares his insight and opinions into the upcoming SPLOST VI vote.
SPLOST Choices—yours, mine, ours. Come November you, me, and everyone choosing to vote will make a choice on SPLOST. Is the choice a simple yes or no? Not at all. The consequences are immediate and have long-lasting effects. I invite and urge you to take a close look at this question over the next few weeks. Attend the informational meetings or access the Habersham Chamber of Commerce to download the detailed project list. Two funding issues loom large–survival of the Habersham Medical Center and the quality and safety of Habersham roads and bridges. These are funding issues because we must pay the existing debt for the hospital. These are funding issues because our existing and future economic engines requires safe and well maintained roads and bridges.
Our big choice is really about how we pay the hospital debt and how we resurface our roads and upgrade bridges and not if we do this. As we look at our choices I suggest we avoid getting lost in the details of multiple project lists, which city is getting what project where, and who will reap the benefits. I know, the devil is in the details but in our case these are small devils and we all know that the devil is always present. In my view it would be better if the project list were reduced to the hospital and the roads and bridges but the ballot language was developed by elected officials who represent all of our citizens. The best feature in this process is that we as voters have the authority to choose. I have a reason to vote one way or the other as do you and your neighbor. The choice will always be ours. Fairness is part of the picture here as well. Consider our current 6% sales tax. It breaks down this way: 4% goes to the State and 2% goes to the School System. More than a third of our citizens go to other counties to work. Is it fair that the sales taxes they pay there, stay there? Is it fair that we ask citizens from other counties who work or visit and pay sales taxes here to leave the money with us? Is it fair that only the property owners pay for the projects that must be included like the hospital and roads and bridges? Some may choose to vote for the idea of taxing everyone not just property owners and others may well vote against any and all taxes. Some may want property owners alone to provide the funding. We need to look at the two most important, specific issues before us the voters, the hospital and roads.
Habersham Medical Center–do we want it to survive and in what form? Everyone I know wants our hospital to survive and to continue to provide the best medical care possible. I am happy to report that the hospital is much better managed now and the County Commission and Hospital Authority have reached an agreement that helps reduce the costs of paying the debt. During the next 2 years and with a growing economy, the hospital has a real chance to start making enough money to become sustainable. If the SPLOST is not passed the picture changes and for the worse. Remember, the current debt must be paid regardless of where the money comes from. Choices for our hospital’s future without SPLOST will be made by the County Commissioners. If they sell it much of the debt remains because it is simply not worth the current debt. If they close it we lose everything but the debt. This is known. This is true. The only other source of money for the debt is the indigent care fund which is part of our property taxes. If sales tax revenues are not used for partial payment, then our property taxes will be raised to pay the debt. This is not a threat it is simply a fact. Your vote will determine the outcome for that question.
Habersham roads and bridges–we have good roads and bridges. Why do we need more money? We have good roads because the County has more or less redone 10% of our over 500 mi of paved county roads every year. Bridges are inspected and when found to be unsafe or becoming so, we re-do them as well. All roads wear out in time but why do our roads and bridges wear out so fast? Heavy trucks, mostly. Did you know that many of our heaviest trucks are exempt from load limits up to 40 tons? Feed trucks, live chicken trucks, logging trucks, and concrete trucks are all the heaviest of trucks and all have the maximum weight limit exemption. County roads are typically designed to have weight limits of no more than 28 tons. Given the economic importance of agriculture, forestry, and construction it is not reasonable to expect these limits to change. It is reasonable to expect everyone to share in the cost of road resurfacing and making bridges safe. Such trucks consume large amounts of fuel and the one cent sales tax will be applied to fuel and this costs truckers to be sure but they benefit greatly from our roads. This seems fair to me. The point is that we need to maintain the economic health of our agricultural and construction industries here in Habersham and we all enjoy the quality of our roads and the safety of the many bridges we cross, some on a daily basis.
Is the SPLOST vote a simple yes or no vote for a penny added to county sales? It is really much more for the two major issues–our hospital and our roads and bridges. Other things on the list matter less and it would be easier for me if we could vote for just the hospital and the roads and bridges but we can’t. I plan to vote yes. Yes for the hospital and yes for the roads and bridges. I encourage you to think about the issues at hand and learn as much as you can between now and election day. Remember, some of these projects must be done and we, as a community, will have to pay for them one way or another. On November 4th choose carefully, but choose.
