Monroe County Commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday, May 19 to begin the process of holding a November 3, 2020 referendum on whether to issue a single-county Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST).
Commissioners will next hold a joint meeting next month with the cities of Forsyth and Culloden to approve an intergovernmental agreement on the administration of the funding. The county would then draft in July a resolution of support to send to county Elections Supervisor Kaye Warren for final referendum approval.
County Manager Jim Hedges said 86 of 159 Georgia counties currently have a TSPLOST. Of those 86, 62 have a regional TSPLOST, 23 have a single-county TSPLOST and one has both a regional and single-county TSPLOST.
If approved, the TSPLOST, which would take effect on April 1, 2021, would impose an additional one cent of sales tax per dollar and would remain valid for five years.
Monroe Countians last voted on a TSPLOST in November 2019, narrowly rejecting the tax by a 1,128 (51.7 percent) to 1,052 (48.3 percent) margin. County Manager Hedges said county road mileage needing re-surfacing has increased since last fall from 152.49 miles to 196.62 miles, meaning the cost of completing proposed projects has gone up by about $5.5 million from about $19.1 million in 2019 to just under $24.6 million in 2020. County Manager Hedges said, “What this tells me is that we’re falling farther and farther behind in re-surfacing the roads in the county.”
County Manager Hedges said even with the approval of a 2020 TSPLOST, which is projected to net the county about $14.1 million in proceeds, the county would still be about $1 million short on its road resurfacing needs. County Manager Hedges’ projected five-year revenue total of about $23.5 million also includes $3.5 million in state Local Maintenance & Improvement Grant (LMIG) funds over five years, $1.5 million in the county’s 30 percent match to those state LMIG funds over five years, and about $4.4 million dedicated to road improvements in the county’s 2020 SPLOST over six years. County Manager Hedges said one option is to use TSPLOST revenues to pay off the $1.5 million LMIG match while reducing property taxes by about a quarter mill annually.
District 2 Commissioner Eddie Rowland said research indicates that due to the substantial number of out-of-county travelers stopping at local exits, Monroe Countians would be responsible for paying a much lower percentage of taxes associated with a proposed TSPLOST than they would pay if the county hiked property taxes to pay for road repairs. Commissioner Rowland said a study performed by Lowndes County estimated that 52 percent of sales tax revenue is paid by persons who live outside the county. Commissioner Rowland said if the TSPLOST fails and Commissioners are ever eventually forced to raise property taxes to pay for road repairs, it would result in an annual tax hike of about 2.3 mills, which equates to an additional $156 in property taxes on a home valued at $200,000. In contrast, should the TSPLOST pass, Commissioner Rowland projected Monroe Countians who spend $150 weekly on consumer goods would only pay $78 more annually thanks to the one cent sales tax increase. Should commissioners also use TSPLOST funds to pay off the LMIG match, it would result in a quarter-mill decrease in property taxes equating to $17 on a $200,000 home, meaning that homeowner would only see an overall annual tax hike of $61, an annual savings of $95.
Several commissioners initially balked at including in the referendum question the possibility of issuing general obligation bonds in the amount of $15 million should the measure pass, preferring only to fund projects as the taxes are collected. However, County Attorney Ben Vaughn recommended Commissioners include the option of issuing bonds because he said they aren’t allowed to issue them retroactively if they are not included as part of the question. Commissioners then voted 5-0 to approve to include the potential bonds as part of the referendum.
County Commission Chairman Greg Tapley said of the proposed TSPLOST referendum: “This is a solid plan to move forward that doesn’t increase taxes for the constituents. And it’s something that we ought to at least give them another choice on since as Commissioner (George) Emami pointed out there was very low turnout in the last election.”
In other Board of Commissioners’ news:
— Monroe County Commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday, May 19 to renew its long-standing Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Office. The three-year agreement, which splits the cost of the county’s Extension Office with UGA, calls for the county to provide annual funding of $121,973 for salaries, supplies, training and travel.
— Monroe County Commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday, May 19 a resolution of support for the acceptance of a $100,000 recreation matching grant from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. County Manager Jim Hedges said the county will spend $100,000 from its 2014 SPLOST dedicated to recreation to assist with the $200,000 total project price tag. The project will include: resurfacing the existing recreation department playground area with an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible rubberized surface, replacing an existing rec department ball field with a concrete hardscape and synthetic turf, and renovating an existing rec department restroom to make it ADA accessible.
— Monroe County Commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday, May 19 to buy a new DuraPatcher pothole patching machine. County Manager Jim Hedges said the county’s current pothole patching machine is about 20 years old and is too worn out to repair. Therefore, County Manager Hedges recommended Commissioners use 2020 SPLOST funds to purchase a 2020 DuraPatcher trailer-mounted spray injection pothole patcher from Austell-based Adams Equipment Co., Inc. in the amount of $79,385. District 1 Commissioner Larry Evans said of the DuraPatcher: “This is something that we’ve just got to have.”
