Since voters in metro Atlanta and eight other regions of the state rejected T-SPLOST referendums in summer 2012, politicians have been loath to raise the issue again.
However, a bill pending this year seeks to revive a smaller, more flexible version of the plan that allows residents to vote on taxing themselves to fund a way out of traffic congestion. (The 2012 metro Atlanta vote involved a penny sales tax for a 10-county region.)
It’s unclear if the legislation will gain any traction in an election year that is expected to result in an unusually swift 2014 General Assembly session. Still, the idea of smaller T-SPLOSTs already has supporters such as Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Cobb County Chairman Tim Lee, and could turn around some opponents of the 2012 vote.
House Bill 195 would allow two or more neighboring counties to create special districts for the purpose of enacting a transportation sales tax. If HB 195 passes, then counties that want to form such a district would have to ask the General Assembly to pass legislation allowing a referendum. Voters in those counties could then decide whether to support a sales tax of up to a penny for a period of three to 10 years (as opposed to the 10-year T-SPLOST).
A similar concept was floated in 2008 in a proposed constitutional amendment that fell three votes shy of passing in the Senate. The current bill was introduced last year and carried over to this year’s session. Its sponsor, Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, said he plans to tweak the wording this year to allow cities as well as counties to take part in the formation of special taxation districts.
“If DeKalb, and the city of Atlanta and perhaps even Clayton County wanted to bind together for a MARTA funding region, why shouldn’t they be able to do that in a way that serves their priorities?” Setzler asked rhetorically. “In the same way, north Fulton might be able to bind with Cobb, Forsyth or Gwinnett County to fund more connectivity on arterials along the northern part of the metro area.”
Asked about the legislation on Wednesday, state Rep. Jay Roberts, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said, “I wouldn’t say it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in passing, but right now it’s not on the fast track either.”
Under existing state laws, two counties can already create a memorandum of understanding if they decide to cooperate on a transportation strategy, he said, but more than two cannot.
Roberts said lawmakers are taking a wait-and-see approach to evaluate how the T-SPLOST is working for three regions where voters approved the referendums in 2012 before they move forward with another significant funding measure.
“Anytime you have something as major as trying to come up with another way to fund transportation, it’s not something we’re going to rush into,” Roberts said.
About $15 billion — counting money from all sources — is budgeted to be spent on projects in the 18-county metro Atlanta area over the next 26 years to fix traffic bottlenecks and improve transit. But planners at the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) have said that level of infrastructure investment won’t be enough to keep up with the expected growth in congestion that will come from the addition of 3 million people and 1.3 million jobs to the Atlanta region by 2040.
Nationally, Georgia ranks near the bottom of the 50 states in per capita transportation spending.
Without a higher level of spending on roads and transit, the average yearly cost of congestion (in wasted fuel and work hours) is expected to double by 2040, from $1,860 to $3,900 per person, according to the ARC.
Roberts said his concern is that the legislation proposed by Setzler fosters a piecemeal approach, and added, “I think you have to look at it from a broader perspective than that.”
Atlanta’s mayor and some other state and local lawmakers believe a smaller and more modest version of a T-SPLOST could meet with voter approval.
“We won’t do 10 counties again, but I think you’ll see an approach where two or three counties can partner to take on some infrastructure challenges,” Reed told reporters after his inauguration speech last week.
Groups like the Sierra Club and the Georgia Tea Party Patriots, which opposed the T-SPLOST, say they also support the idea of allowing counties and cities to team up on smaller, more locally driven transportation sales tax referendums.
Lyle Harris, a spokesman for MARTA, said, “Although we have not had a chance to review the bill, any legislative action that might assist in funding transit, or MARTA, would certainly be viewed favorably.”
Under the old T-SPLOST, state lawmakers drew up the taxation districts. Under HB 195, counties and cities would be the ones deciding whether they wanted to partner on transportation projects.
Cobb County’s Lee, who was on the regional roundtable that selected the projects for the T-SPLOST, said he supports Setzler’s legislation “wholeheartedly.” Lee believes metro Atlanta voters were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the $7.2 billion project list before. And residents didn’t like seeing their tax money being lumped in with funds that were going toward projects in nine other counties.
“I think voters would be more receptive to looking a little closer, at least giving it a chance, versus something that might seem to be just overwhelming,” Lee said.
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