Road improvements, local cost for the two-lane Effingham Parkway and the second half of the central recreation complex top the draft wish list for county commissioners in a new round of penny-per-dollar sales tax.
Commissioners held a workshop on the topic March 7 and approved a calendar to prepare the question for voters on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The current, five-year Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) ends June 30, 2017.
A preliminary list prepared by staff for the workshop calls for $20.2 million for road improvements and an additional $8 million to be the local part of the $52 million, two-lane Effingham Parkway, a new road that will receive $44 million in state funds.
The list also includes $4.9 million to finish the central recreation complex, which will be constructed on a 120-acre piece of land that has large pecan trees on the west side of Ga. 21, just south of Springfield.
The $4.9 million to complete the central recreation complex may have to be adjusted upward by $1.2 million, County Manager Toss Allen said. The amounts are still preliminary.
When it’s finished, the complex will have 11 baseball fields, four multi-purpose fields and a two-court gymnasium. In addition to restrooms and parking, the plan calls for a 12-space RV campground, five picnic shelters, walking trails, covered bleachers, batting cages, three playgrounds, park space, a pond, splash pad, skate park and dog park.
Also on the preliminary SPLOST list is $3.1 million for water and sewer improvements, $2.9 million for a new county administration building and $2.9 million for fire engines and sheriff’s vehicles.
The early list also includes $225,000 for improvements at the county’s animal shelter. Some of the building is not air conditioned or heated and the stalls are configured in such a way that handling dangerous animals or animals on rabies watch is unsafe.
State law requires that a detailed list of projects be prepared for voters to peruse before the sales tax is brought up for a vote. The law also requires that the money be spent only on things included on the list.
Planning for road improvements in the SPLOST vote this fall is complicated by the question of whether local officials will also ask voters for a transportation SPLOST (T-SPLOST) in November of 2017.
Rick Lott, executive director of the Effingham County Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday that the executive board of the chamber will recommend to the whole chamber board this week that the chamber join the county’s Transportation Advisory Board in pushing for a T-SPLOST vote in November 2017.
Allen said Friday that the Transportation Advisory Board, county and cities haven’t decided yet whether to push for the T-SPLOST.
“There is a general consensus that the additional revenue could certainly be utilized on valuable and needed transportation projects but a decision has not been reached one way or the other as to whether or not the question will be put to the voters,” he said.
Since state law says a T-SPLOST vote can’t be held until July of 2017, at the earliest, and the current SPLOST will end June 30, 2017, working out plans for road improvements is complicated.
“Even if a decision is made to pursue the T-SPLOST it may not pass,” Allen said. “There is going to have to be a lot of thought put into the transportation projects proposed for the next SPLOST vote. … It is definitely going to require some coordination.”
At the workshop, parent Peggy Tuttle asked commissioners to consider adding a performing arts center to the wish list, for band, choir and drama students so that they don’t have to squeeze onto a small stage in a “cafetorium.”
Chairman Wendall Kessler asked her some questions about what she’d like to see in an auditorium. He thanked her for attending the meeting and said such projects take many years to plan.