At a called workshop of the Effingham County Commissioners Wednesday, Nov. 30, the commissioners discussed SPLOST, Capital Needs and the Short Term Work Program (STWP), where it was discovered that due to a shortage of funds in future SPLOST, changes will have to be made to plans set for the next five-plus years.

Commissioners Vera Jones, Reggie Loper, Forrest Floyd, Jamie Deloach and Phil Kieffer heard the SPLOST rundown from Interim County Administrator, Toss Allen.

Allen explained in great detail that the currently SPLOST will end in June and that when it does end, the new SPLOST will begin. It will run for the next five years until the summer of 2022.

SPLOST is collected on a monthly basis and future projects depend on the money that comes for funding. Currently, there are plans to use SPLOST money for projects like replacing the Sheriff’s Department vehicles, renovating the Judicial Complex and the Sheriff’s Department/jail, improving roadways in Effingham County and constructing the Effingham County Recreational Facility.

There’s a slight problem, however; there is not enough SPLOST money coming in to go around.

Commissioners were at times questioning how the SPLOST figures could be as low as they are.

“The figures should be going up every year,” Vera Jones said on the SPLOST revenue mirroring the previous three years’ amounts. “We should not have the rate staying the same each year.”

When the numbers were explained by Allen, the rough estimate was that with all of the projected costs of current and future projects added together, Effingham County is $5 million short of new SPLOST.

Ideas on how to distribute the funds were given with the mention of possibly having to put some projects on hold, even though the date of completion is projected to occur before 2022.

The commissioners agreed that while the lack of funds provides a problem, some projects must be funded and cannot be put on hold.

Currently, there are approximately $1.8 million in funds remaining in the current SPLOST money. It is unknown right now how much money will need to be budgeting to keep the future projects in the fold but the commissioners will further discuss plans at a later date this month.

At a called workshop of the Effingham County Commissioners Wednesday, Nov. 30, the commissioners discussed SPLOST, Capital Needs and the Short Term Work Program (STWP), where it was discovered that due to a shortage of funds in future SPLOST, changes will have to be made to plans set for the next five-plus years.

Commissioners Vera Jones, Reggie Loper, Forrest Floyd, Jamie Deloach and Phil Kieffer heard the SPLOST rundown from Interim County Administrator, Toss Allen.

Allen explained in great detail that the currently SPLOST will end in June and that when it does end, the new SPLOST will begin. It will run for the next five years until the summer of 2022.

SPLOST is collected on a monthly basis and future projects depend on the money that comes for funding. Currently, there are plans to use SPLOST money for projects like replacing the Sheriff’s Department vehicles, renovating the Judicial Complex and the Sheriff’s Department/jail, improving roadways in Effingham County and constructing the Effingham County Recreational Facility.

There’s a slight problem, however; there is not enough SPLOST money coming in to go around.

Commissioners were at times questioning how the SPLOST figures could be as low as they are.

“The figures should be going up every year,” Vera Jones said on the SPLOST revenue mirroring the previous three years’ amounts. “We should not have the rate staying the same each year.”

When the numbers were explained by Allen, the rough estimate was that with all of the projected costs of current and future projects added together, Effingham County is $5 million short of new SPLOST.

Ideas on how to distribute the funds were given with the mention of possibly having to put some projects on hold, even though the date of completion is projected to occur before 2022.

The commissioners agreed that while the lack of funds provides a problem, some projects must be funded and cannot be put on hold.

Currently, there are approximately $1.8 million in funds remaining in the current SPLOST money. It is unknown right now how much money will need to be budgeting to keep the future projects in the fold but the commissioners will further discuss plans at a later date this month.