Is Columbus winner or loser in sales tax vote?

You didn't have to read any fine print to know Mayor Teresa Tomlinson was not big on the idea of a regional sales tax for transportation (TSPLOST), at least not in the Columbus region. Though the mayor technically neither supported nor opposed the tax, her public comments on the matter made no attempt to disguise her skepticism about its benefits for the city she leads.

Most of the voters of Georgia apparently felt the same way: The TSPLOST failed in all but three districts -- one of them the River Valley District that includes Muscogee and 15 other counties.

So Tomlinson is doing what good civic leaders ought to do under such circumstances: accept the will of the voters and go forward from there. In this case, Tomlinson is working to see that the regional sales tax is administered in the best interests of Columbus.

She will meet a week from today with state Department of Transportation officials in Atlanta to make sure the Consolidated Government is not assessed $5.9 million in DOT "administrative" fees -- something she said the city was assured would not happen in communities that administer their own transportation projects, as does this one.

But this is the really interesting part: Tomlinson is concerned that the three regions whose voters approved the tax could pay a price for those that didn't -- specifically, by having regular state funding rerouted to Atlanta and Savannah, where the TSPLOST was defeated.

In this regard, Columbus has the advantage of Sam Wellborn, who has so long and ably represented us on the DOT board. "I've already had that discussion with the governor's office and with the commissioner of the DOT and that isn't going to happen," Wellborn said.
We'll take Wellborn's word to the bank. What is curious, and perhaps revealing, is the political aftermath of the statewide TSPLOST vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, is already campaigning to repeal the 2010 legislation that led to the transportation tax vote and throw out the whole thing, mostly because it failed in metro Atlanta. That's interesting, given that the statewide appeal of this regional approach was supposed to be its promise of home rule.

Rogers' ostensible reason for wanting to start over is that TSPLOST was supposed to ease congestion but went "off course into economic development projects." Other than Columbus, exactly where in the River Valley District would easing congestion take priority over economic development? And wasn't economic development one of the selling points of TSPLOST all along?

The possibility, however remote, of Columbus being penalized for supporting something state leaders lobbied for, just because it failed in Atlanta, speaks volumes. Tomlinson is right to get out in front of this.

Source:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/08/07/2152351/is-columbus-winner-or-loser-in.html#storylink=cpy Published: August 7, 2012

Comments:

In a rational world, the T-SPLOST should be repealed because it violates “home rule”. If a deeper harbor needs to be build in Savannah, and the legislature agrees it’s strategic to the state, Savannah and the State should pick up the tab.  The last time I checked, the Feds had no money. They also need to make sure the Interstates and freight rail can handle the increase in volume. 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader