Want To Know Who's Pushing T-SPLOST?

Atlanta Unfiltered is a non-profit investigative website that relies on public documents to generate stories. In this case, editor Jim Walls followed the money on T-SPLOST.

No to T-SPLOST, Say Patch GOP Leaders in Survey

Higher taxes and lack of trust are two reasons most Republican respondents are against the transportation referendum.

Georgia Republican leaders responding to a Patch survey overwhelmingly oppose T-SPLOST in their regions and believe it will fail. Patch sent surveys to about 135 Republican Party activists, candidates and officeholders last week asking their opinions about the referendum to raise sales taxes by a penny to fund road and transit projects. Just over 60 responded. The referendum to create a Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or TSPLOST, is split into 12 regional districts across Georgia, and the referendum could pass in one region and fail in others. The Republican leaders responding to Patch’s survey hail mostly from the Northwest, Northeast and Atlanta regions. While the survey is unscientific and can’t be generalized …

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T-SPLOST: What is at Stake for Athens, Ga.?

Will the one-cent sales tax take a victory lap or crash and burn?

  Athens voters will go to the polls on July 31 to select ACC Commissioners and Republican or Democratic candidates for public offices. Voters will also decide whether to impost a one-cent sales tax on themselves to fund transportation projects. For the so-called T-SPLOST. the state has been divided into regions along the same lines as it has been for the Regional Development Commissions. Athens is in roughly the center of a 12-county region in Northeast Georgia. Here are a few things about the T-SPLOST you might not have realized:   Athens Patch will carry a detailed list of the 18 projects on Tuesday, so stay tuned.

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Gov. Deal strongly endorses transportation local option sales tax

"As an individual, I do advocate for it. As a governor, I am advocating for it because this is not a legislatively imposed tax. It is a tax increase that the people themselves will decide about." - Nathan Deal

  With traffic creeping along the I-75/I-85 Connector below him, Gov. Nathan Deal and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle stood high atop an 18-story Midtown office tower early Wednesday evening. They urged Metro Atlantans to vote in favor of next month’s regional transportation penny sales tax referendum. The pair addressed a small group of reporters atop the Atlantic Station building before a private fundraiser for local business leaders who are in favor of the tax’s passage. A new Insider Advantage poll of 539 people shows that 47 percent of those asked would vote against the 10-year, one cent sales tax, with 32 percent for it and 21 percent undecided. But those numbers didn’t phase Deal, who brushed aside the notion that he was backtracking on his no…

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Athens Election Guide

The candidates, incumbents and issues that will be affecting Athens Clarke County.

  As we look ahead to the July 31 primary elections, Athens Patch is committed to bringing you useful information about local races. And about issues that will affect you and your pocketbook. Athenians have two local commission races and one state house race, all of which will be decided on July 31. Commissioners Alice Kinman of District 4 and Ed Robinson of District 8 both decided not to run for re-election. Vying for their positions are Allison Wright, a long-time school board member, and David Ellison, an attorney who works in Jackson County, in District 4. In District 6, business man Ron Winders is facing Jerry NeSmith, a planning commissioner and co-founder of the Athens Farmers' Market. The two state house candidates are both …

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Vote for TSPLOST? Not a Chance

Does anybody think the Georgia Department of Transportation deserves one cent of sales tax money? I don't. Here's why

  The mid summer elections are coming up, and the weather isn't the only thing that's HOT this July. T-SPLOST, or the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, is one issue that has a lot of people fired up this election cycle. With good reason, too...In case you haven't noticed, traffic around here is a mess. Highway 20 in Grayson is a frustrating commute during rush hour, despite the recent ba-jillion dollar widening project. Loganville Chic-fil-A hires an off-duty policeman each day, just so its customers can make a right turn on 78. That pretty much sums up the traffic situation in the 'Ville. The further west you go, the worse the situation gets. There's literally no way around this fact: Atlanta traffic sucks. Expert …

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Northeast Roads Wish List Nearly Complete

Regional leaders are expected to approve projects this week for next year's transportation sales tax vote.

Time's running out to bend local officials' ears about what to build and fix if voters approve a 1-cent sales tax for transportation projects next year. A group of two-dozen city and county leaders are meeting Thursday to finalize Northeast Georgia's list, the Athens Banner-Herald reports. The group represents 12 counties, including Barrow, Clarke and Oconee. Items on the billion-dollar list include Athens bike lanes, a Winder bypass among several Barrow County projects, and freeway-style interchanges on Highway 316. A public hearing in Oconee County revealed some resident concerns about widening projects there, but the Banner-Herald reports that Northeast Georgia leaders are largely in agreement on the package. The referendum, dubbed T-…

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Perry Parks

11:20 am on Tuesday, October 4, 2011

What are people's main objections -- the specific projects, the principle of an extra 1-cent tax, something else?   more ›

Rampant Speculation

Moving the Goalposts on T-SPLOST

When you get to vote matters more than you might think.

By the time you read this, we'll have had three mostly quiet days of the General Assembly's special session. Sure, the Democrats are complaining (not without reason, mind you) that the Republicans have turned the process into a partisan all-you-can-eat buffet, but is anyone really listening to Democrats on the state level these days? Instead, let's talk about the other elephant in the room. Lawmakers are haggling over a bill (backed by the Governor) to move the statewide referendum on a one-cent transportation sales tax from the July primary to the November general election. First, though, let's do a little T-SPLOST 101 for those of you who have more worthwhile summer plans than following every twist and turn of transportation policy in …

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