By a resounding margin, Effingham County voters turned down a one-cent sales tax proposed to go toward transportation projects in the county and the Coastal Empire.
The T-SPLOST, pushed by local Chambers of Commerce and many local and area politicians, was defeated in the 10-county area served by the Coastal Regional Commission. The sales tax was slated to be enacted on a region-by-region basis, with the regions formed on the basis of the regional commissions to which counties belong.
More than 55 percent of Effingham County voters repudiated the T-SPLOST, and 57 percent of the region’s voters also denied its passage.
But the T-SPLOST’s defeat isn’t seen as just as political defeat by backers of the one-cent sales tax.
“For the first time in our history, we had the ability to control the projects that would have benefited us,” said Effingham Chamber executive director Rick Lott. “Our politicians have worked together better than they ever have worked together in our lifetime.”
The Effingham projects approved as part of the T-SPLOST were all four phases of the Effingham Parkway, with two phases in Effingham and two in Chatham, and the replacement of the Old River Road overpass at I-16. Effingham also was considered to reap the benefits of work at the I-95/Highway 21 interchange in Port Wentworth, where thousands of Effingham drivers cross each day on their way to work.
Bill Hitchens, the former commander of the Georgia State Patrol and Department of Public Safety, backed T-SPLOST in his successful bid for state House District 161.
“I’ve done a lot of visits in Port Wentworth and Garden City and stood out on the highway in the morning and afternoon at 21 and 95, and the congestion is just horrific,” he said. “I don’t see much of a way to fix it with the normal state money. I stood there in the morning for three hours, and it’s gridlock. I know people are frustrated — you can see it in their faces.”
The overpass at Old River Road and I-16 is considered a key for the Industrial Development Authority’s tracts straddling the interstate. Lott said other states already have the upper hand on Georgia with what they are allowed to offer prospects.
“It puts another advantage in their corner,” he said of the T-SPLOST loss. “It makes our IDA’s job that much more difficult. We’ve got to be able to furnish the roads. We’ve got to be able to furnish the water and sewer.”
While T-SPLOST supporters tried to assuage skeptics and dissolve certain misconceptions, such as where the money raised would go, the anti-tax wave was too much to overcome, Lott admitted.
“I tend to believe that sentiment is largely responsible for the T-SPLOST getting defeated,” he said.
Said Hitchens: “The T-SPLOST shows you people are tired of being taxed.”
Most work on roads and bridges in the state is funded through the motor fuel tax. Without T-SPLOST, former state Sen. Eric Johnson estimated the motor fuel tax would have to be increased 25 cents per gallon.
The interstate highway system, started during the 1950s, brought a new level of connectivity to Americans, Lott said. But the funding mechanisms that built those roads — motor fuel taxes — hasn’t changed since then, he added.
“The more we demand fuel-efficient autos, the less money goes into that formula to pay for roads and bridges,” Lott said.
Statewide, voters rejected the T-SPLOST by a 61.3 percent-38.7 percent margin. T-SPLOST passed in only three regions — the Central Savannah River Area, the Heart of Georgia and River Valley. Only four counties in the coastal region — Bryan, Liberty, Long and Screven — had a majority vote in favor T-SPLOST.
Not passing T-SPLOST also means that counties have to increase their match to state Department of Transportation projects from 10 percent to 30 percent.
Hitchens said he saw the transportation sales tax as a “rare opportunity” to get road projects accomplished. Now he wonders if that opportunity is gone forever.
“I don’t see a way to get it done with normal state money,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll get another chance. I thought we would get twice as much back in Effingham and west Chatham as we put into it. People in Garden City are tired of the big trucks running by their house, and people here are tired of the traffic.”
Hitchens also worried that if road projects were approved and funded in more traditional ways, roads in Atlanta would hold sway over those in the rest of the state.
“Big, bad choices are going to have to be made,” Lott warned, “and it’s not going to be for the better.”
The T-SPLOST was designed to last for 10 years, and it was projected to raise $1.6 billion for the coastal region, with approximately 40 percent of that total coming from tourists and visitors to the area. It cannot be brought back before the voters for another two years.
“I’d like to think people could think about this and think ‘big picture,’” Lott said, “and give it a fighting chance. The sad story of the no vote is they are not taking the long view and seeing our kids are going to need these roads. They have sold the future short.”
