More than 9,000 Fayette voters will be forced to travel to two different voting precincts in November, at least if they want to vote in their municipal election and also on the countywide SPLOST referendum.

But those voters will get a postcard notice in the mail from the county’s elections department notifying them of the issue. Some on the Fayette County Commission initially balked at the idea several weeks ago because the postcards could be construed as “promoting the SPLOST,” a violation of Georgia law.

But County Attorney Scott Bennett told the commission last week that the proposed language for the postcards was neutral and therefore couldn’t be considered promotional material.

“This gives everyone notice of something not in the normal course of voting,” Bennett said.

County Elections Director Tom Sawyer said the county would take further steps to publicize the issue and educate voters before election day. The commission authorized spending up to $35,000 on administering the SPLOST election, including the cost of mailing the postcards.

Voters who will be confined to their usual precinct will still be inconvenienced, officials have said. That’s because the county must have a separate voting machine for the SPLOST at each municipal polling place, Sawyer has explained.

So those voters will have to go to two different voting machines to record their municipal and SPLOST votes.

Voters from the following county voting precincts will have to go to their county precinct to vote on the SPLOST and then their regular city precinct at another location:

In Fayetteville:

• Precinct #1 Blackrock

• Precinct #4 Fayetteville East

• Precinct #8 Morning Creek

• Precinct #14 Whitewater

• Precinct #25 Jeff Davis

• Precinct #26 Willow Pond

In Peachtree City:

• Precinct #14 Whitewater

• Precinct #34 Rising Starr

In Tyrone:

• Precinct #10 Sandy Creek

• Precinct #27 Dogwood

Bost blasts SPLOST

Former Fayette County Commissioner Harold Bost is incensed that the current commission has agreed to offer up a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to voters this November.

County officials project by paying off the justice center debt as proposed will provide a savings of $3.8 million this year alone and also would save $21.5 million in interest payments on the remaining $55 million owed on the project.

The SPLOST is projected to raise up to $135 million over a six-year timeframe if it is approved by voters in November. A listing of projects proposed for the SPLOST is at the end of this article.

Bost contends the SPLOST, particularly by paying off the justice center debt early, will free up capital for the commission to spend on “pet projects.”

“This is a supplemental annual budget, a way for them to get some money instead of working in the annual budget, and I have big problems with that,” Bost said.

Bost said it makes more sense to finance the facility so future residents will pay for it. If the SPLOST is paid off early, the burden of paying for the justice center is placed only on current Fayette residents.

Bost also challenges the contention that out-of-county residents will pay a significant portion of the SPLOST by shopping here. He notes that anyone who “counts car tags” at the Fayette Pavilion, for example, could come up with skewed numbers because it is unknown how many of those are employees’ vehicles.

Bost said he was also concerned about several transportation projects proposed for the SPLOST, including a roundabout at the entrance to the Whitewater and Highgrove subdivisions on Redwine Road. Bost, who lives in Whitewater, contends a four-way stop will solve the problem much cheaper.

“It’s just another way to try and get things for them to spend more money and cost us as citizens,” Bost said. “... One percent, what’s that? Well, if you go buy a new $40,000 car it’s going to cost you $400 more. If you have a $20,000 trade-in, it will still cost you $200 more because of that extra penny tax.”

Proposed SPLOST projects include:

$3.5 million to replace county fire stations located in the cities of Fayetteville and Tyrone; $5 million for a speculative university campus and $2 million for a new emergency operations center.

The county is also proposing to spend $8.7 million on road, street and bridge improvements on arterial and collector roads including New Hope, Lee’s Mill, Tyrone, Sandy Creek, Hood and Westbridge roads.

Another $7.8 million would be spent for intersection improvements at:

• Ellison Road and Jenkins Road.

• Dogwood Trail and Tyrone Road.

• Peters Road at Ga. Highway 92.

• Goza Road and Old Greenville Road.

• Ebenezer Road and Spear Road.

• Redwine Road at Birkdale and Quarters Road.

• Flat Creek and Tyrone Road.

• Ellison Road and Tyrone Road.

The county also plans to spend $11 million on “road street and bridge purposes” with no specific project list for those funds.

Also in the mix is $3.1 million for improvements of existing roads and $2.25 million for multi-use trail construction, renovation and improvement.

A new road is also on the county’s SPLOST project list: it would link First Manassas Mile Road with Ga. Highway 54. The project would be funded jointly by the county and the city of Fayetteville.

In Peachtree City, the big ticket items for SPLOST funds includes $6 million set aside for street resurfacing and $2.9 million for cart path resurfacing, extensions and construction.

The city is also proposing to pay down $2.6 million in debt from the library and airport bonds along with another general bond issue. The city also would spend $2.81 million to pay off a lease purchase debt instrument.

Among other large-scale projects for Peachtree City include two cart path bridges at a cost of $1.9 million each: one over Hwy. 74 North and the other over Ga. Highway 54 East. Other cart path projects include $1.14 million for a tunnel underneath Rockaway Road to connect with Meade Field and $1.01 million for the path connections for a tunnel underneath Hwy. 74 South that will be located at the Rite-Aid pharmacy. The Rite-Aid tunnel will be built by the state as part of the highway road widening project due to start later this year.

Fayetteville’s proposed SPLOST projects include $1.2 million for bike, pedestrian and multi-use path improvements, $1 million for street resurfacing and another $1 million for citywide grid/connectivity projects.

Fayetteville is also projecting to spend $750,000 on intersection improvements citywide, $950,000 on median improvements and $400,000 for a roundabout at Redwine and Ramah roads.

On Fayetteville’s “alternate projects” list are $1.94 million for bond debt retirement and another $527,000 to retire capital project loans. Also on the alternate list is $750,000 for a water well interconnection project and $492,800 for a streetscape on Ga. Highway 85.

Tyrone would receive up to $2.7 million over the six-year SPLOST, with $1.4 million going toward street resurfacing, milling, patching and shoulder enhancement. Tyrone is also expecting to spend $490,000 to pave gravel roads and $485,000 to realign roads.

Tyrone also projects to spend $200,000 on miscellaneous cart path extensions and $127,000 on intersection improvement projects.

The town of Brooks would receive $663,000 from the SPLOST, with $250,000 going toward sidewalks and $70,000 to a library renovation.

The town of Woolsey would receive $256,000 from the SPLOST and is proposing to use it on a community center.