That was
Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
talking at the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) monthly meeting
about T-SPLOST.
Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Gretchen Quarterman, Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
thanks
Corey Hull of VLMPO and says the next speaker will give us
some inside knowledge about T-SPLOST.
Ashley Paulk, Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission (LCC)
is not a fan of T-SPLOST.
He says:
Y’all know I’m on the executive committee, so I guess I should be a salesman.
But I’m sorry.
Y’all know me pretty well, I’ve got to really be
not just a little bit correct,
but it’s got to be good for the people.
I think what disturbs me,
is when you’ve got to put something in the law that’s a stick,
carrot and stick,
you don’t do what I’ve said you’re going to get punished.
Public meetings will be held in August and September before the
regional transportation roundtable meets before
October 15th; that’s what their deadline is to vote….
The referendum will be in the summer of 2012 … July or August 2012….
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Part 1: T-SPLOST Explained —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
Part 2:
T-SPLOST Business plan —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
Part 3: T-SPLOST Project Lists —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
Part 4:
T-SPLOST Penalties and LMIG —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
Part 5: T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT —Corey Hull of VLMPO at LCDP
Corey Hull of VLMPO explains that next they go to GDOT and then back.
On April 13th we have to turn those projects in to the Georgia
Department of Transportation.
…
On June 1st or thereabouts, the executive committee that
Chairman Paulk is on is gonna receive the unconstrained project list.
It won’t be … constrained to the amount of money the economists
say we will receive.
…
It is that executive committee’s responsibility
to go through and select projects and select the projects off
that we can afford for the region.
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
If the regional transportation roundtable does not agree on a list
to present to the voters by October 15th of 2011,
then each jurisdiction in this region must match their
Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant … at a rate of 50%.
That’s
Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant Program (LMIG).
So if they get $100,000 from LMIG they’ll have to match that with $50,000.
This will affect smaller communities the most, since they use the
most LMIG funds proportionally.
And the most likely way to raise the funds to match is to raise property taxes.
So what if there is a list on the ballot but the voters vote it down?
Continue reading →
The 75% pot of T-SPLOST funds is what the project lists recently
submitted by Lowndes County
and the City of Valdosta are about,
according to
Corey Hull, continuing his presentation on T-SPLOST at the Lowndes County
Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting.
Those are projects of regional significance
that the local jurisdictions want the voters to actually
vote on that project.
The other 25% goes to local jurisdictions, like this:
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
The plan identifies
$35 billion to meet the needs in Georgia today.
However, $72 billion are needed to meet the transportation
needs to sustain Georgia’s economy into the future.
Of course, that’s according to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT),
which notoriously is not interested in trains or other mass transit:
if it’s not a road or a road bridge, forget it.
Continuing:
And $1 billion is needed here in Lowndes County.
Lowndes County’s transportation plan through the
Metropolitan Planning Organization
has about a billion dollars in projects.
T-SPLOST is a ten-year one-cent sales tax,
organized in twelve regional taxing districts,
through committees composed of county chairs and city mayors,
plus an executive committee with some of them plus 3 people from the
legislature, which funnels transportation funding requests to GDOT,
which picks, and then sends to a referendum in 2012.
Got all that?
No?
Well, Corey explains it much better than I do.
The Georgia legislature passed what was then known as House bill 277
called
Transportation Investment Act of 2010….
It created or proposed a one percent sales tax for transportation purposes
throughout the state of Georgia.
It creates
twelve special transportation taxing districts
that are based on the boundaries of the regional commissions.
And that is where the connection with the regional commission stops.
They are not the same body….
Come hear Chairman Ashley Paulk and MPO Director Cory Hull give
us information about T-SPLOST. The special local option tax for
Transportation.
Ashley Paulk is Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission.
Corey Hull is Coordinator for the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO).
Norman Bennett, VLCIA board member and former chairman of the Lowndes County Commmission,
asked Corey Hull:
Can you explain that again for me about the penalties if the voters don’t pass the tax?
If the county’s got a project, then they’ve got to put up ten percent
or whatever the percentage is?