In my City Talk column today, I write about the proposed projects to be funded by the $137 million that will be controlled by Chatham County if voters approve another 6-year round of SPLOST (the 1-percent special purpose local option sales tax directed toward infrastructure).
The total countywide collection will be $370 million or more — very likely several tens of millions more.
The current round of SPLOST fell dramatically short of estimated revenues due to the steep decline in economic activity during the 2007 to 2009 recession and throughout the slow recovery since then.
Voter approved the last SPLOST by a 3 to 2 margin — and gave an extension of ESPLOST an even bigger margin a couple of years ago. But TSPLOST got thumped in the summer of 2012 and I’d say the SPLOST vote in November will be very close.
Here’s a screen cap of the County’s proposed spending. You can see this list, as well as the project lists for Savannah and for other municipalities in this PDF at the County’s website.
Click here to see the status of various approved County projects over the years.
