Douglas J. Callaway, executive director of the Georgia Transportation Alliance, says the regions of Georgia have the opportunity to move the state forward with approval of T-SPLOST this summer.
The talk of the town was transportation as District 3 Commissioner Bruce Yates welcomed the audience to the Jan. 11 town hall meeting held in the Braselton Community Room.
The Transportation Investment Act of 2010 (TIA) is a 20-page document that set the stage for Georgians to boost jobs in their communities while also making their roadways safer, according to Georgia Transportation Alliance executive director Douglas J. Callaway.
The vote puts the decision in the voters’ hands rather than government simply saying these are the projects to be undertaken. A roundtable of local officials, chaired in Northeast Georgia by Jackson County Commission Chairman Hunter Bicknell, finetuned the list of projects for this 12-county region.
The referendum on theTransportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST) is slated to be on the July 31 ballot.
Callaway says that vote is vitally important for the future of the state. He was the guest speaker at the town hall meeting.
Callaway, who had previously worked in Florida to build a coalition that went beyond the standard business perspective, was hired Nov. 1. Because everyone benefits from better transportation, Callaway said the Florida coalition included Publix Supermarkets, mass transit providers, airports and more. He said he hopes Georgia businesses and individuals will see the value in TIA.
If the public says yes to TIA, a substantial amount of money will be generated for road projects, he said. That will be good news for the region where $987 million could be collected.
The Georgia Transportation Alliance’s campaign arm is Connect Georgia. The vote will be taken in 12 different regions and Connect Georgia will in promotion mode in each.
“The bottom line for y’all, just as it is in the other regions, if TIA isn’t passed, it means status quo,” which Callaway said means “the mess we’re in.”
With high unemployment, there is little hope for a quick economic turnaround, he said. It could be 2020 before the economy is back to pre-recession levels, if it ever returns to those levels.
What Georgia has done, Callaway said, is have the courage to ask the voters to help themselves. Unlike Florida, Callaway said Georgia has a SPLOST, which he calls a great tool used here for years to tackle specified projects. He said as a conservative, using SPLOST allows for you to pay for limited government. When the project is funded, the tax ends unless voters decide to fund another project. SPLOST is the perfect way to solve this problem of the size of government, according to Callaway.
Of the funds, 75 percent are earmarked for a list of constrainted projects with the other 25 percent being nonconstrained and available to the county for its own road projects. See the project list at http://connectgeorgia2012.com/northeast_georgia.php
“This is a chance to help yourself, to create and maintain jobs. This is the best thing going,” said Callaway. It’s a solution and it offers hope for a better future. There are benefits that flow from saying yes, including more jobs and safe roads and all that is local.
According to Callaway, the bottom line is this: You can sit on an acorn and be patient or start climbing that tree. “Let’s not wait until 2020; we can come out faster and ahead of the other competition,” he said. “Spurring economic development means Georgia would have a leg up for the next 10 years.”
Transportation ranks high for companies looking to locate to a community. The choice before Jackson County is to make the right choice the first time because you won’t have the luxury to make a u-turn if you make the wrong choice, Callaway said.
“It’s not just a sound bite: T-SPLOST is about people, jobs and safety,” he said.
Safer roads are the most important factor in the equation. But Georgians also have the power to make their lives better, he suggest. “This is the best economic development tool Georgia has had in my lifetime,” Callaway said.
In each region, a watchdog committee will be appointed, three by the Speaker of the House and two by the lieutenant governor, to oversee that the penny sales tax is properly spent along with the list framework.
“For the regions, this is the best bargain they are going to get,” said Callaway, who handed out fact sheets about the Connect Georgia effort.
Don Clerici, who oversees capital projects for Jackson County, gave an overview of the Jackson County projects on the TIA list.
Also related to transportation, Clerici provided a brief update on the ongoing road projects in the West Jackson area.
Work on the Zion Church Road project has been slowed by poor weather but a spring completion is still on target. The phase I traffic shift just occurred and Clerici said the phase II shift is anticipated in two months. The Town of Braselton still has some utilities to be relocated.
Clerici said he hoped the message board have been helpful to motorists.
The Gum Springs/Highway 124 project is also feeling the effects of weather setbacks but work progresses. Signal delivery is expected at the end of this month. Paving and striping will come when temperatures are 45 degrees.
