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Pennies for highways starts April 1

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@TheCitizenNews.com

The old adage “a penny saved is a penny earned” has special meaning in Fayette County, at least for the next four months.

Come April 1 of next year, the sales tax charged to most retail purchases made in Fayette will increase by a penny, from 5 to 6 cents on the dollar.

The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, narrowly approved by voters on Nov. 2, will remain in effect for five years or until almost $116 million in revenue is raised, whichever comes first.

After retailers start charging the extra penny on April Fool's Day, local governments will begin seeing a return on the tax in about two months. County officials expect the State Department of Revenue, which collects the tax, to begin issuing regular checks around June.

But residents could start seeing the fruits of the tax — widespread road improvements — before then.

In a day-long planning retreat held in Peachtree City on Nov. 16, county officials were given an update on the transportation improvement package voters endorsed when they passed the SPLOST.

Public Works Director Lee Hearn said county staff is already in the process of prioritizing the more than 80 individual projects.

“It’s like eating an elephant; where do you start?” Hearn asked. “We’re just going to take small bites and go one step at a time.”

Even without any SPLOST revenue, about $11 million is earmarked in the county’s current budget for road projects, Hearn said. That could be tapped to fund some of the less expensive projects on the long-range list, especially those that can be handled by county work crews.

The SPLOST will also supplement regularly scheduled road work, Hearn said. For example, the county has annually resurfaced 30 miles of roads; with the additional revenue, Hearn said he hopes to increase that to 50 miles per year.

“So rather quickly, people are going to start to see their SPLOST dollars at work,” Hearn said.

The most ambitious and expensive items on the county’s “to-do” list — such as a bypass around Fayetteville and a major redesign of the Ga. highways 74-54 interchange in Peachtree City — are still several years down the road, Hearn said. But work will be ongoing behind the scenes to secure state and federal grants for those projects.

“As a staff we’re going to really stay on track with the Georgia Department of Transportation to make sure we get the most use out of our SPLOST dollars,” Hearn said.