Houston County opposes regional transportation sales tax

The Houston County Commission on Tuesday voted to oppose a regional sales tax referendum to fund transportation improvements.

The Middle Georgia Regional Commission has asked counties in the area to approve resolutions in favor of holding a referendum on a 1-percent tax to fund road projects. A similar referendum held in 2012 failed.

Houston commissioners weighed in by unanimously approving a resolution opposing the referendum. Leaders from Warner Robins, Perry and Centerville attended the meeting and spoke in support of the county’s position. With the county’s own special local option sales tax, if the regional tax were approved, people in Houston County would pay a total of 8 percent in sales taxes for 10 years, said Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker.

“We continuously have people tell us they will not support an 8-cent sales tax,” Stalnaker said. “They are not willing to take on another sales tax.”

The Transportation Funding Act approved by the General Assembly this year allows regions that rejected the sales tax previously to reconsider it. If six of the 11 counties in the Middle Georgia region approve resolutions supporting a referendum, that would start the process. A decision on whether to call for a referendum would then be made in a regional roundtable meeting at a later date, Stalnaker said.

The region includes Baldwin, Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Jones, Pulaski, Putnam, Monroe, Peach, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Houston County opposes regional transportation sales tax ."