Macon-Bibb officials make progress on $280 million SPLOST

Macon-Bibb County commissioners have crafted a list of projects they say would fit into a future $280 million special purpose sales tax initiative.

The commissioners spent Tuesday afternoon putting together various projects they would like paid for with the next round of the sales tax proceeds. The referendum question is expected to be on the November ballot. But for this SPLOST, county officials have said they’ll probably not assign specific dollars figures to each project in order to allow for more wiggle room if the costs change.

Instead, categories such as recreation and public safety will have dollar amounts, and projects within the categories will be listed. The language of the referendum will be broad enough to provide some flexibility to move money around once certain projects are completed.

Leaving off the dollar amount would provide leeway for commissioners to put more money into a project if costs are higher than expected. In other cases, leftover money might be shifted if one project comes in under budget.

The commission is expected to vote on approving the SPLOST referendum by early August.

Mayor Robert Reichert said he was thankful for help on the special sales tax process from the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.

“I think we have a list of projects that is necessary and needed by Macon-Bibb County for our continued growth and development,” he said after Tuesday’s meeting. “They include projects that we have tried to get funded for years.”

The proposed $280 million SPLOST is $90 million higher than the 2012 SPLOST that the county is still collecting money from.

The preliminary SPLOST projects list includes:

▪  Landfill: $20 million;

▪  Courthouse repairs and upgrades: $40 million;

▪  Blight remediation: $12 million;

▪  Storm water: $25 million;

▪  Debt retirement: $13.5 million

▪  Roads/bridges/transportation: $35 million;

▪  Public safety: $25 million;

▪  Recreation: $37.5 million

▪  Culture/public facilities: $43 million;

▪  Economic development: $29 million.

There were multiple projects mentioned under recreation, including the next phase of work at Central City Park, the Filmore Thomas Recreation Area, Sub-South Recreation Center and Rosa Jackson Community Center.

“I think we made a commitment when we were pushing the last SPLOST that recreation was going to be a shining light for everybody,” Commissioner Elaine Lucas said.

The landfill is another large expenditure — at an estimated $20 million — that likely would be split up between closing the inert and main landfills and building a transfer station. Macon-Bibb is also mandated to spend money on improving the courthouse, with $40 million of sales tax collections mentioned by officials to cover costs for a building addition and parking.

In order to meet the $280 million amount, county officials suggested Tuesday taking some money projected for blight and instead issuing another bond.

Among other projects expected to receive sales tax dollars are a new or renovated health department facility and improvements to the Grand Opera House, City Auditorium and Macon Coliseum.

Other capital projects includes placing $25 million to address some of the major storm water issues facing Macon-Bibb and $35 million that could go toward Bass Road expansion and areas such as road striping and resurfacing.

Fireworks ordinance moves through committee

The commission’s Public Safety Committee moved a resolution to the full commission that would restrict hours that fireworks can be used on most days.

The resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Mallory Jones, would make it a noise ordinance violation if someone uses fireworks after 9 p.m. on all days of the year except for around the Fourth of July and New Year’s Day holidays.

State law says that fireworks can be used between 9 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. as long as they don’t violate any local ordinance.

Sheriff David Davis said that his office receives complaints from people about fireworks, and the ordinance would provide some help in handling them. When the noise ordinance was crafted, fireworks were not included, since they were illegal to use in Georgia at the time.

“This helps by specifically putting fireworks in the noise ordinance. It gives us a code section to go by and a little bit of teeth,” Davis said.

Committee OKs south Bibb recreation center construction

Construction could begin in the coming months on the $7.6 million recreation center in south Bibb County that has faced setbacks after the first plans came in about $3 million over budget.

The commission’s Operations and Finance Committee approved a revised construction agreement Tuesday with locally based Warren Associates.

Original plans for the first phase of the center had to be downsized in recent months after construction proposals greatly exceeded the budget.

The full commission will likely vote on the agreement July 19.

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 6:40 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb officials make progress on $280 million SPLOST."