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Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2009

Bibb plans to discuss SPLOST in July

The Bibb County Commission plans to schedule a July work session to discuss projects that could be funded by a new penny sales tax.

Commission Chairman Sam Hart said Tuesday he would tell Macon Mayor Robert Reichert and City Council they may want to do the same.

“I think it is probably time to start thinking about it, to start a discussion,” Hart said.

Commissioners plan to call for a special purpose local option sales tax to fund courthouse renovation and construction costs. But the penny tax is expected to raise more money than the project would cost, so officials are looking for other projects eligible for the funds.

Commissioner Lonzy Edwards already has some ideas, including storm water upgrades and recreation improvements.

“There’s nothing in south Bibb County,” he said, noting that a recreation facility in east Bibb needs repairs and the Rosa Jackson Community Center doesn’t have a pool.

City officials likely have their own ideas as well.

“We’re gonna need the cooperation of everyone,” Hart said. “We’re hoping some of their priorities are very similar to what ours are.”

The earliest a referendum for a new penny tax could go before voters is November, but realistically, Hart said, one won’t occur until July 2010.

Atlanta-based Cooper Carry and Macon-based Brittain, Thompson, Bray, Brown Inc., the architects selected to conduct a needs assessment of the current courthouse, have said they would need about four months to complete their study, Hart said.

Until that’s done and cost estimates are complete, the commission won’t know how much money it will need for the courthouse or how much money will be left for other projects.

A previous estimate, which is several years old, put the cost of building a new courthouse at about $80 million. Some commissioners now say the study that produced that estimate was flawed and may overstate the county’s future judicial needs.

The last SPLOST, approved in 2005, expired March 31 and raised more than $105 million.

The current sales tax rate is 6 percent.