Why SPLOST can’t do everything

A perennial feature of SPLOST referendums is a rash of complaints about how stupid, irresponsible, irrelevant or otherwise outrageous the projects list is. Some of these complaints are always based on a misunderstanding about what Georgia law governing SPLOST allows. Here, lightly edited for intelligibility, is what the relevant portion of the Georgia Code says about what municipalities may use SPLOST funds for. If you make it all the way through this verbiage, you’ll see that the project list on our ballot follows the law closely, which it has to.

O.C.G.A. § 48-8-111

(1) The purpose or purposes for which the proceeds of the tax are to be used and may be expended…may include any of the following purposes:

(A) A capital outlay project consisting of road, street, and bridge purposes, which purposes may include sidewalks and bicycle paths;

(B) A capital outlay project or projects…consisting of a courthouse; administrative buildings; a civic center; a local or regional jail, correctional institution, or other detention facility; a library; a coliseum; local or regional solid waste handling…including, but not limited to, any facility for purposes of incineration or waste to energy direct conversion; local or regional recovered materials processing facilities…or any combination of such projects;

(C) A capital outlay project or projects which will be operated by a joint authority or authorities of the county and one or more qualified municipalities within the special district;

(D) A capital outlay project or projects, to be owned or operated or both either by the county, one or more qualified municipalities within the special district, one or more local authorities within the special district, or any combination thereof;

(E) A capital outlay project consisting of a cultural facility, a recreational facility, or a historic facility or a facility for some combination of such purposes;

(F) A water capital outlay project, a sewer capital outlay project, a water and sewer capital outlay project, or a combination of such projects, to be owned or operated or both by a county water and sewer district and one or more qualified municipalities in the county;

(G) The retirement of previously incurred general obligation debt of the county, one or more qualified municipalities within the special district, or any combination thereof;

(H) A capital outlay project or projects within the special district and consisting of public safety facilities, airport facilities, or related capital equipment used in the operation of public safety or airport facilities, or any combination of such purposes;

(I) A capital outlay project or projects within the special district, consisting of capital equipment for use in voting in official elections or referendums;

(J) A capital outlay project or projects within the special district consisting of any transportation facility designed for the transportation of people or goods, including but not limited to railroads, port and harbor facilities, mass transportation facilities, or any combination thereof;

(K) A capital outlay project or projects within the special district and consisting of a hospital or hospital facilities that are owned by a county, a qualified municipality, or a hospital authority within the special district and operated by such county, municipality, or hospital authority or by an organization which is tax exempt under…the Internal Revenue Code, which operates the hospital through a contract or lease with such county, municipality, or hospital authority;

(L) The repair of capital outlay projects, including, but not limited to, roads, streets, and bridges, located, in part or in whole, within the special district that have been damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster;

(M) A capital outlay project or projects that are owned, operated, or administered by the state and located, in part or in whole, within the special district; or

(N) Any combination of two or more of the foregoing….

One other point, under the heading of “everything is connected,” is worth considering here. Every time projects involving, say, the Classic Center or the Greenway show up on the list, some people go off on them as frills that don’t benefit people who need it most. But keep in mind that projects like those attract visitors from outside the county. According to our Visitors and Convention Bureau, in 2013, those folks spent over $253 million here.

In addition to SPLOST, we also have an E(education)SPLOST in place that generates funds for capital projects in our school district, like the brand new Hilsman Middle School. But here’s the thing. The visitors who spend $250 million or so a year here aren’t coming to see Hilsman Middle School. They’re coming to attend events at the Classic Center, walk the Firefly Trail, tailgate at football games, etc. Even though they couldn’t care less about our schools, when they pay the SPLOST tax on “frills,” they’re also paying the EPLOST tax, which funds things that nobody in their right minds could blow off as frills.

Leon Galis is an Athens native who returned to town in 1999 after retiring from the faculty of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. Since 2008, he has written dozens of columns for local Athens media. Galis is a professor of philosophy emeritus, with broad interests in current events and cultural commentary. You may read additional works by Galis at https://medium.com/@leongalis