Sales tax question soon to be official

It’s official, well almost, the Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners will put the question to voters in November. All that remains is a formality. The Board of Elections has to meet to approve adding the measure to the Nov. 8 ballot. While the commission’s vote was unanimous, will voters want to continue the 1-cent special purpose local option sales tax that is expected to raise $280 million?

The project list is a smorgasbord broken down into 10 categories. However, the items in those categories are not assigned a specific dollar amount. While that gives commissioners some flexibility, it might also create voter concern.

The reasoning behind such a move is defensible. An example is the new recreation center in southern Bibb County that originally was slated in the 2012 SPLOST to receive $8 million. However, the plans far exceeded that budget and had to be downsized with other amenities phased in later. That’s not unusual. Over the life of a SPLOST construction costs can rise dramatically, but voters forget, particularly those voters where the project is located, that the cost estimates are just estimates.

There is another part of the SPLOST equation voters don’t know or forget. SPLOST money can’t be spent until it’s in hand. In other words, the tax has to be collected before it can go toward any project. The county can jump-start projects by borrowing money up front and paying it back, with interest, when the tax money is collected, but that’s expensive. Aside from interest, there are fees and that decreases the amount of money available for projects.

There is a decent mixture of sexy and unsexy items in the proposal. The county will finally start facing the closure of the landfill by allocating $20 million in that direction and another $25 million toward stormwater issues. For most voters, both issues are out-of-sight and out-of-mind. No one cares about them until the federal or state government comes knocking or streets start caving in and swallowing vehicles. Even after this SPLOST is over, if it’s approved, more money will have to be dedicated to the landfill and stormwater issues.

Another unsexy item is $29 million for economic development. It’s unsexy until a Kumho or a Tyson Foods pops up, not to mention expansion of other industries in the area that create jobs and those jobs help lift our community’s boats out of poverty.

There is money for public safety, roads and bridges, debt retirement and more for recreation improvements and blight reduction. There is also an extensive amount for repairs and upgrades to the County Courthouse. It’s about time, the building’s only 92 years old.

Some voters will complain that a SPLOST is akin to a permanent tax and they would be right. Bibb County and Macon are mature areas. Both have been around since 1823. Officially, Bibb County was formed in December 1822. That said, there are a number of items that cannot be paid for out of the general fund without unduly burdening the local property tax base. The way to rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure is by using a vehicle such as a SPLOST.

We can look around the area and see what those SPLOST pennies have allowed us to create. After decades of promises, the Filmore Thomas Recreation Area is coming to life, as well as improvements along Log Cabin Drive. Fire stations have been constructed and a juvenile justice center and animal shelter. And has anyone who has experienced it not enjoyed Amerson River Park? Would all of that have been possible without SPLOST money?

It’s a time-worn selling point that no doubt people are tired of hearing that such and such percentage of the tax is paid for by people who don’t live here. We may be tired of it but that doesn’t make it any less true. Macon-Bibb County remains the shopping hub of Middle Georgia, so it only makes sense to let others help us pay for our improvements through their sales tax pennies.

Now it’s time for the commission to complete the job. They’ve brought the community into the process of choosing the projects and each commissioner should now enlist the community’s support in passing the referendum in November.

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Sales tax question soon to be official."