Tag Archives: Corey Hull

St. Augustine and Gornto Road in Final T-SPLOST list @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Maybe you’d like to know what are the T-SPLOST projects and how much they cost, so you can decide whether you think the tax is worth it (in addition to all the other considerations). That can take some work. Here’s an example.

Since Gretchen Quarterman asked what $5 million for one intersection would buy, T-SPLOST plans have been filed and a constrained list and then a final list approved by GDOT. Price tags jumped wildly up and down in the constrained list. For example, widening less than 3 miles of Old US 41 North from North Valdosta road to Union Road jumped from $8 million in June 2011 to $12 million in August.

In the final list, this item seems to be the one Gretchen was talking about:

RC11-000100 St Augustine Road at Gornto Road Intersection Improvements

You can find that one line on www.t-splost.com, which seems to be the state’s propaganda site for pushing T-SPLOST.

To find the current dollar amounts, you have to rummage around elsewhere until you find Continue reading →

Five million dollars for one intersection? —Gretchen Quarterman @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Gretchen Quarterman wanted to know what the money was going for, with an example:

…at Gornto. That's a total of 5 million dollars! I'm having trouble imagining what you could do for $5 million in that one block. Do you have to buy the new McDonald's that they're building? I mean what are we doing there?

Corey Hull said he didn't know, since at that time many of the projects didn't actually have plans. See the next post for what eventually happened with that one.

Here's the video:

Five million dollars for one intersection? —Gretchen Quarterman
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Not a special Local tax: it’s a Regional tax —Nolen Cox @ SGRC 2011-09-19

T-SPLOST is a misnomer: it's not a Special Location Option Sales Tax, since it's voted on as a region.

I think maybe we should have a gasoline tax to pay for roads.

Here's the video:

Not a special Local tax: it's a Regional tax –Nolen Cox
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Lowndes, Tift, and Ware donor counties and majority @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Someone asked:

If Lowndes, Tift, and Ware vote against it, and the other fifteen counties vote for it, that’s a majority.

Corey Hull:

As long as they reach 50% + 1 in voters.

Questioner:

Those three counties, which would probably be the three donor counties in this region… they could kill it for our region if it was a large turnout.

Roy Taylor:

A large county like we could kill it for everybody.

The referendum is still on for July (during the primary, with less turnout) not November (during the general election).

The eighteen counties are: Continue reading →

How do we vote on T-SPLOST? — Gretchen Quarterman @ SGRC 2011-09-19

T-SPLOST regions are an intermediate level of government in which all the people in the region vote together, not by counties.

Gretchen Quarterman asked:

When the 18 counties vote, is it county by county, say Atkinson votes yes, and Lowndes votes no, and if there were 9 counties that voted yes and 9 counties that voted no, or is it the total of all the voters together, and then we say there were 400,000 voters and it’s a simple majority.

Corey Hull answered:

It’s a simple majority. It’s the latter of how you described it, it’s all the voters together.

Here’s the video:

How do we vote on T-SPLOST?
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Nolen Cox, Gretchen Quarterman,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Lowndes County donor county @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Lowndes County would be a T-SPLOST donor county: it would put more money into T-SPLOST than it would get back for projects.

Somebody (I think it was Robert Yost) asked whether Lowndes County would be a donor county for T-SPLOST. Corey Hull said yes, that was the case. Someone else noted:

Atkinson County that’s been coming over here spending our money all these years, gets a little of it back.

And the smaller counties get penalized a lot more if they vote against T-SPLOST, because they depend much more on LMIG. So T-SPLOST among other downsides is a scheme to pit smaller counties against larger ones in the T-SPLOST region.

Here’s the video:

Lowndes County donor county
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Nolen Cox, Gretchen Quarterman,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

T-SPLOST: stick or baseball bat? @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Corey Hull explained what the state of Georgia has in store for us if we vote down T-SPLOST:

If the voters do not approve the referendum, then all local governments must match their LMIG funds a rate of 30%. And then we have to wait 24 months to start the process over again. And when I say start the process over again, I mean start the process over to enact this tax.

Nolen Cox, Chairman of the Lowndes County Republican Party (LCRP), remarked:

Is that commonly called a stick?

Gretchen Quarterman, Chairman of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP), observed:

It looks like a baseball bat.

Now I doubt either were speaking in an official capacity, but I know from talking to them that both individuals oppose this tax, and I’m pretty sure most people in their local parties do, too.

Here’s a longer explanation of what happens, including what LMIG is, April 2011 LCDP meeting.

Here’s the video:

T-SPLOST: stick or baseball bat?
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Nolen Cox, Gretchen Quarterman,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

 

Corrected T-SPLOST Southern Region Cost Changes

Received this morning. Many thanks to Corey Hull and SGRC for sending this correction. -jsq
John,

I reviewed your question, and that project had an error in it, I am attaching a new spreadsheet, that is slightly revised. It includes the TIA funding with inflation so that it matches the other project sheets that we have handed out at the public meetings

I am sorry about the confusion this has caused.

Sincerely,
Corey

Corey Hull, AICP
MPO Coordinator
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO

This corrects the earlier post.

The corrected spreadsheet he sent is on the LAKE website in Excel spreadsheet and HTML versions.

In the HTML version, I have added three columns. Name is taken from the Unconstrained Project Listing. Difference and Diff% were computed from the Original total Cost Estimate and the Updated Total Cost Estimate.

The project descriptions may be found in the unconstrained and constrained project lists. More later.

-jsq

VLMPO meets 12 July 2011 —Corey Hull

Corey Hull of VLMPO sent this 27 June 2011. The TIA item is about T-SPLOST, and there is opportunity for citizen participation. -jsq
Good Afternoon,

The Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee will be holding its next regular meeting on July 12, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. at the SGRC office (address below). Please find attached the agenda.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at chull@sgrc.us or at 229-333-5277.

Corey Hull, AICP
MPO Coordinator
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO
327 W. Savannah Ave.
Valdosta, GA 31601
Visit our Facebook Site!
229.333.5277
229.300.0922 (c)
229.333.5312 (f)
chull@sgrc.us
www.sgrc.us/transportation

That agenda is appended. -jsq Continue reading →

Ashley Paulk, Corey Hull, and Norman Bennett on T-SPLOST

Jane Osborn pointed us at a detailed list of T-SPLOST projects.

T-SPLOST regional executive committee chairman Ashley Paulk gave his opinion on T-SPLOST at a Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting a few months ago: He’s against it because he doesn’t like a law with a stick in it.

At the same LCDP meeting, Corey Hull of VLMPO explained T-SPLOST, which LAKE videoed in six parts,

  1. T-SPLOST Explained
  2. T-SPLOST Business plan
  3. T-SPLOST Project Lists
  4. T-SPLOST Penalties and LMIG
  5. T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT
  6. T-SPLOST referendum in 2012

Before that, Corey Hull explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA, and got a very interesting question about penalties from Norman Bennett.

VLMPO held an extended public participation period for T-SPLOST in May. Maybe some of you who went can report back on that.

-jsq