VALDOSTA — Editor’s Note: This article is the second in a multi-part series on T-SPLOST that will appear in The Valdosta Daily Times’ Sunday edition.



VALDOSTA — The transportation sales tax is making headlines across the state with the July 31 vote only a few weeks away, but legislators and lobbyists have been working over a decade to find an answer to aging infrastructure and traffic congestion.

In 2009, Georgia House and Senate representatives resoundingly approved the Georgia 2020 Transportation Investment Act (TIA), which promised to raise $7.2 billion across the state.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce pushed a solution to transportation, until lobbying efforts saw the passage of TIA and eventually the creation of the Georgia Transportation Alliance about a year ago. The Alliance is a Chamber affiliate working to provide “accountability at Georgia Department of Transportation, a transportation strategy, logistics strategy and to help those communities who wanted it; to help them pass the referendum.”

Georgia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Clark  estimates about $3 million has been raised for promotion of the new sales tax in 11 regions, leaving voter education in the Metro Atlanta area to local Chamber chapters.

“T-SPLOST has probably been a decade in the making,” said Clark. “From a Chamber-perspective, we’re not a pro-tax organization, but we are pragmatic. It was clear this was important not just for business but economic development in particular.”

The local Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce has yet to take a stance on the issue. According to local Chamber president Myrna Ballard, only 70 responses were returned in their 1,500 members poll.

“We are a membership-driven organization; they drive our positions,” said Ballard.

The TIA allowed for the creation of 12 regions across the state, each comprised of their respective cities and counties, who would submit leadership to their Regional Roundtable which was tasked with the creation of a list of projects needed in their area.

Each county appointed members to the Southern Region Roundtable (11), primarily county commissioners and city mayors. The region is comprised of Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Pierce, Tift, Turner and Ware counties.

“I don’t think South Georgia roads were nearly as bad as they are in the Atlanta area, with aging infrastructure and congestion,” said Lowndes County Chairman Ashley Paulk.

Even though his position on the roundtable’s executive committee required him to approve the project list for Region 11, Paulk had his reservations about the proposal, especially the 50 percent required match on all Local Maintenance and Improvement Grants if the project lists were not finalized. Every region ended up creating such a project list and avoiding the 50 percent penalty.

“Atlanta basically said if you don’t pass this, we’re going to punish you and that’s where my big hang-up is with T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax),” he said.

State House Representative Amy Carter (R-175), who was a Democrat in 2009, voted for TIA despite her own reservations.

“There was clearly a constituency throughout the state who felt that this was necessary and we had the opportunity, so I supported to put it before voters to allow them to choose,” she told the Times.

Carter said she was opposed to the penalties for communities who didn’t pass T-SPLOST, but didn’t see an alternative.

Or, as State Rep. Jason Shaw (R-174) put it, “There is no plan B for transportation.”

About 40 percent of the $670 million raised by the 18-county Southern Region over the next ten years, if voters approve T-SPLOST, is expected to be collected in Lowndes County.

Paulk pointed out that most of the projects in Lowndes County will be in the City of Valdosta, while county projects are related mostly to the interstate.

“We understood that Lowndes County would be a donor county but surrounding counties donate to the Lowndes County economy significantly, and I feel strongly like we owe them a return on what they give to Lowndes County,” said Carter.

Paulk said he would have rather seen an increase in the motor fuel tax.

“If you burn fuel, you’re using the roads,” said Paulk.  

“A lot of the large corporations own thousands of vehicles and would pay taxes on those expenses,” he said. “If I was a road contractor, I’d certainly be behind T-SPLOST.”

Carter said voters would have been “greatly upset over fuel price increases” and compared the entire situation to a “double-edged sword.”

Shaw was not in office in 2009 when legislators passed the bill, but he said he understands the importance of the sales tax. His father, Jay Shaw, was a co-author of the bill and a legislator when it passed, and is now the district representative to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

“I do know the background and knew there were a lot of issues with transportation; it wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction,” Shaw said. “They passed this and obviously, I think it’s a good thing leaving it up to the voters to decide.”

He compared the transportation infrastructure investment to what occurred when Atlanta decided to invest in Hartsfield -Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

 Gov. Nathan Deal and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Speaker of the House David Ralston have all supported the sales tax and Shaw said, “They all realize the importance from an economic development standpoint for the state and what it could mean if it doesn’t pass.”

“If they hadn’t invested in Hartsfield... that investment made Georgia what it is today,” Shaw said. “If it wasn’t for that investment, we would basically be Alabama.”

“Nobody likes taxes, but we have to do something one way or another... Sometimes you have to look past things that can be unpopular at times when you believe in something.”

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