As many Bibb County voters ponder whether they will approve a special purpose local option sales tax Nov. 8, surrounding counties continue to reap the benefits of their own SPLOSTs.

At a meeting a couple of weeks ago, a pro-sales tax group in Bibb County noted that several surrounding counties have had an extra penny of sales tax on the dollar for years, charging 7 percent compared with the 6 percent in Bibb County.

After cutting the ribbon on two improved Houston County roads Wednesday that were paved with SPLOST money, commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker said he hopes Bibb voters will approve the 1-cent tax.

“I’m not versed in all of Bibb County’s needs, but there’s one particular item that should carry (an approval), and that’s the encroachment issue,” said Stalnaker, referring to a proposal that would set aside $6 million to buy land near Robins Air Force Base. “One of the most important issues is encroachment. Houston County is trying to do its part about it, and Bibb County is trying to do its part. It’s critical. If we fail to resolve (encroachment), it damages the base.”

Stalnaker said about $200 million in payroll from the base goes to workers who live in Bibb County, while about $1 billion goes to Houston-based workers.

“That’s huge,” he said.

Eighty percent of Houston voters approved their SPLOST in 2006, and Stalnaker noted that virtually all of the road projects from both that SPLOST and an earlier one in 2001 have either been finished or are in the process of being completed, including the ones on Sandefur Road and Lake Joy Road, which opened last week. Both of those projects were completed six months ahead of schedule.

With the Houston SPLOST due to end in October 2012, the commission is starting the process of getting a new SPLOST proposal prepared that could be put before voters ahead of a statewide transportation sales tax, or T-SPLOST.

Stalnaker said while he feels confident that Houston voters will approve another SPLOST for the county, the T-SPLOST will be a tougher sell, and he doesn’t want voters to confuse the two.

“(The T-SPLOST) has some challenges of its own,” he said. “It’s going to be an additional sales tax. Right now, the board of education’s tax is a continuation tax, and the county has a continuation tax. But an additional tax (for the T-SPLOST), that’s going to be hard to get by. ... It’s a different sell (to the voters) in the current state of the economy. That’s the feedback I’m getting from regular citizens.

“If it comes down a local SPLOST versus the T-SPLOST, the voters know that the county has no other way to fund (capital projects),” he said. “Having the SPLOST has helped contain the millage rate. We couldn’t raise the millage enough to do the projects we need.”

Monroe County

The Forsyth City Council put together its proposed project list and presented it to the Monroe County Commission last week.

As in the case of Houston County, Monroe voters approved a six-year, $28 million SPLOST in 2007 that will end in 2013, and city and county leaders want to get a new SPLOST approved before the T-SPLOST shows up on the ballot.

“We’re anticipating trying to vote a year early (before the current SPLOST ends) to alleviate having two (local option sales taxes) coming through on the same election cycle,” Forsyth Mayor Tye Howard said. “As far as (local) SPLOSTs go, we’ve had real good support in the city and the county. We’ve had a real high number of ‘yes’ voters. They recognize that it all can’t come from the city’s or county’s coffers.”

Howard noted that Forsyth’s millage rate is 5.6 mills, its lowest since 2003. He said because of six exits off Interstate 75 running through the heart of Monroe County, much of the sales tax revenue is generated by people who live outside Monroe.

Howard told City Council members last week that he’s gotten estimates that about 65 percent of the sales tax comes from non-Monroe residents. He said Monroe County Commission Chairman James Vaughn has told him he believes the figure to be even higher.

“Everyone who stops here and buys a Coke or gallons of gas or whatever, it helps us,” Howard said.

Vaughn said that the county, Forsyth and Culloden have always gotten along well when it comes to dividing up SPLOST revenue.

“We’ve been doing this a long time, and there’s not a problem in that regard in trying to figure out how to allocate the money between the three of us,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn said the current SPLOST has covered major road projects in the city and county, built water lines and provided for a major renovation for the hospital.

He thinks more infrastructure improvements will be part of the next SPLOST, as well as a new emergency radio system for law enforcement and first responders that will comply with new FCC regulations. Howard said Forsyth also is considering using SPLOST money for that.

“This is the best way to fund capital improvements,” Vaughn said. “Otherwise, we’d have to raise property taxes.”

Jones County

Jones County Commission Chairman Preston Hawkins said quite simply that without SPLOST proceeds, the county wouldn’t be able to function.

Jones County voters overwhelmingly approved the current six-year SPLOST in 2008, 1,095-231. During the life of the SPLOST, it’s expected to generate about $14 million, 81 percent of which will go to the county with the remainder going to Gray.

“We couldn’t run the county without it,” Hawkins said. “The ad valorem tax would be through the ceiling. We’ve put money in roads and sewers. There’s money in the sheriff’s department.”

Unlike some of the other counties in Middle Georgia, Hawkins said he thinks the majority of the sales tax is generated by Jones residents. No study has been done tracking where the SPLOST pennies come from.

“We don’t have a big box store like Wal-Mart or car lots,” he said. “I think a lot of the money comes from Jones County. The majority comes from Jones County, but there’s some from (residents who live on) Lake Sinclair in Putnam County.”

Hawkins said the millage rate in the county has remained unchanged for the past four years, which is why there has been little opposition to having a SPLOST.

“There’s been no controversy,” he said. “No one has publicly opposed it. You can’t run a county like ours without it. Sixty percent of our tax base is from ad valorem taxes. We couldn’t operate without (a SPLOST).

“It takes a lot to run the sheriff’s department, public works, the water system,” he said. “More people than ever are using the library, and we’re using part of the SPLOST to add on to that. The health department needs a new roof. There’s always something, all of the time. The people here would rather pay a little bit at a time than all at once.”

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.