RINCON — Approval of an intergovernmental agreement regarding an Effingham County TSPLOST was tabled April 28 during a special called meeting of the Guyton City Council.

Interim City Manager Brett Bennett called for the delay. The city councils in Rincon and Springfield made similar moves recently.

“Different factors of this are still being discussed,” Bennett said. 

Effingham County’s municipal governmental entities and the Effingham County Board of Commissioners are working to finalize a list of road projects that will be submitted to voters in a TSPLOST referendum. The referendum was originally planned for the November ballot but might be postponed until March 2021.

The City of Guyton is operating as if the TSPLOST vote will occur this fall.

“Right now, regarding the November (2020) referendum, we are shooting for mid May (to complete the list),” Bennett said. “That would fall on our second meeting in May as kind of a deadline of needing to approve — or at least be very close — to potentially approve this intergovernmental agreement.”

Ninety of Georgia’s 159 counties have a sales tax designated for transportation, including 24 that use the single-county TSPLOST. 

To qualify for a TSPLOST, a county must already be imposing a regular SPLOST. Effingham County meets that qualification.

County Administrator Tim Callanan has estimated that a one percent TSPLOST would generate $42 million over five years.

In another move, the council approved a deal with EOM Operations to operate the city’s water and sewer system. The move was prompted by the City of Guyton’s lack of employees with adequate knowledge and experience to run the system.