SPLOST is most equitable local option

Published 8:48 am Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Later this month local voters will decide whether they wish to support a 1-cent sales tax to fund city and county projects. Early voting for the special election began last week and continues through next Friday.

Supporters argue sales taxes are the fairest form of taxes because the revenues form them are generated by everyone who shops in a community, not just solely from property owners.

We agree.

Everyone who spends money in Baldwin County — local residents and those from surrounding communities — pay into SPLOST funds, and Milledgeville is a shopping hub for surrounding counties such as Hancock, Wilkinson and others.

The joint city-county sales tax is already in place, this is not a new, added 1-cent tax; instead, the upcoming vote will determine whether or not it continues for another six years beyond 2017. With this fact in mind we also note that it’s much easier to discuss a sales tax extension, one residents are already used to paying, than it is to let the SPLOST end and then in several years place a referendum on a ballot to start a new tax altogether.

While we can question the timing of this election and even the list of project priorities, we should not question whether or not this is the fairest means through which to have these projects funded.

Yes, a tax is still a tax, but the sales tax represents a more balanced distribution of the costs of operating.

The projected $40 million the SPLOST will generate over the next several years will be used to fund courthouse renovations and a new county annex building, airport improvements, park upgrades and it will help renovate some of the local fire stations and purchase new fire equipment. There will also be funds set aside for what officials call essential infrastructure and site development of the new Sibley-Smith Industrial site, as well as for improvements at the Fall Line Industrial Park, and Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority.

March special elections are notorious for having low voter turnout, and historically, this is the case for Baldwin County. As we noted last week, in March 2011 just 7 percent of local voters weighed in on the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) extension. This shouldn’t be the case when it comes to a decision so pivotal that impacts such a wide swath of community, from projects to improve local recreation to economic development.

The SPLOST is the better form of sharing the load and the most equitable means to an end.