Brunswick GA Against T-SPLOST

Glynn County group forms to stop transportation sales tax in coastal region. That's what a Glynn County group is calling a planned July 31 vote.

By Mike Morrison

BRUNSWICK — Two men have formed a group in Glynn County to oppose Georgia's Transportation Investment Act, or T-SPLOST, calling it a tax increase of unprecedented proportions.

"The government is addicted to SPLOSTs," Jeff Kilgore said, referring to the special-purpose local option sales taxes that counties have adopted individually around the state. "Rather than finding ways to cut and be more efficient, they're just trying to find another revenue stream."

A referendum on the proposed 1-cent tax, the first stab at a statewide SPLOST, will be on July 31 in conjunction with the state primary election, and Kilgore, who is calling his group the "STOP Ballot Committee," is urging voters to turn out and turn it down.

"At $18.7 billion over 10 years, this would be the largest tax increase in the history of the state," he said.

The General Assembly set up 12 regions for the collection and distribution of the taxes. Even if individual counties vote it down, their residents would still have to pay the tax if the majority of voters within the region vote for it.

Kilgore registered with the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance Committee in February as a political organization. Dale Provenzano serves as its secretary, and he and Kilgore are its only members. But they're looking to expand.

"STOP is functioning with a focus on our region, but we're also working with many other groups throughout Georgia including the Georgia Tea Party and the Atlanta Tea Party," Kilgore said.

Supporters of the tax tout it as a job creator and infrastructure enhancer. "I think it is a focused program on transportation only, unlike a general SPLOST, and will benefit the state and county by expanding, upgrading and improving our roads, bridges, ports and streets," County Commissioner Tom Sublett said.

In Glynn County, those projects include widening and repaving roads and constructing a new terminal at McKinnon St. Simons Airport.

"The projects are all locked and loaded, agreed upon by the 10 counties and all cities in our region unanimously and won't be changed," Sublett said. "TIA will create tens of thousands of jobs over about a 12-year period while the projects are under way."

Glynn is in the Coastal Region, which includes Bulloch, Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Liberty, Screven, Long and McIntosh counties.

The Department of Transportation says $237.9 million will be collected in Glynn County over the life of the tax. All the money collected within a region will stay within the region.

But that doesn't include a hefty chunk that will go to the Transportation Department for administrative expenses, Kilgore said. And some counties — Glynn among them — will get less than they pay for.

The Transportation Department is projecting that $142.7 million will be spent on Glynn County projects, meaning $95 million will go elsewhere.

"Some money collected in Glynn County will be spent in Effingham County," Kilgore said. "Is that what we want?"

Source: Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2012-04-14/story/glynn-county-group-forms-stop-transporation-sales-tax-coastal-region#ixzz1sEXpOme2 Posted: April 14, 2012 | Updated: April 16, 2012

Comments:

Most counties in Georgia are planning Vote No campaigns against T-SPLOST. If voters succeed in defeating the T-SPLOST, pressure will mount to make the Georgia Legislature repeal the Transportation Investment Act of 2010 as a bad idea. Counties would be better off on their own.

If Legislators do their homework in the meantime, they will see clearly that “regionalism” is part of U.N. Agenda 21, a diabolical plot to undermine local government sovereignty in our states.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party