EDITORIAL: Houston County says no to T-SPLOST Lite — again

Three years ago the ill-fated T-SPLOST proposal went down in flames all across Georgia. The state, divided into 12 districts, saw success in only three. In the Middle Georgia District, T-SPLOST lost 56.14 percent to 43.86 percent. And really, it wasn’t that close.

Houston County came out early against that proposal and has done so again with T-SPLOST Lite, a trial balloon hoisted by the Middle Georgia Regional Commission to see if the appetite for a regional sales tax to fund transportation projects has changed.

The commission asked counties in the region — Baldwin, Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Jones, Pulaski, Putnam, Monroe, Peach, Twiggs and Wilkinson, to approve resolutions saying they would support a referendum that, if passed, could raise an additional penny in sales tax for transportation projects. Houston County didn’t waste any time, and leaders from Centerville, Perry and Warner Robins joined the Houston County Commission in supporting a resolution opposing the referendum.

Houston County has done a pretty good job of funding its own transportation projects and doesn’t see a need to help other areas solve their issues. In 2012, that stance caused a regionalism bubble to burst for a while, but there will always be issues where communities can find common ground and others where they cannot. With its population base, it’s difficult to see a way forward for a transportation referendum without Houston County onboard, but it will be interesting to see how other communities in the region react.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "EDITORIAL: Houston County says no to T-SPLOST Lite — again ."