Association County Commissioners of Georgia remains opposed to road money bill

The Latest Local News from the Rome News

A change to the pending state transportation funding bill removes the impact on local special sales taxes, but stipulates how the revenue should be spent.

The House Transportation Committee approved a new version of House Bill 170 late Wednesday — and it was the hot topic of discussion at Thursday’s meeting of the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission.

“If money is not going into a state pool, then the state should not have any say in how it is used,” said Rome City Commissioner Buzz Wachsteter, a member of the 15-county panel.

Wachsteter also pointed out that the funding in the bill is still reliant upon motor fuel sales, something that is decreasing as vehicles are required to have better gas mileage.

Haralson County Commission Chairman Allen Poole, who also serves as third vice president for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia , was lukewarm about the changes.

“A lot of counties haven’t been able to review the newest version yet,” Poole said. “The position of the ACCG is still to not support it, but it is a whole lot better than what was first proposed.”

The revision allows local governments to continue collecting SPLOST and education local option sales taxes on motor fuel sales, instead of the revenue going toward statewide transportation purposes.

It also states that all future special purpose, local option sales taxes would require a dedicated transportation component equal to the average amount that would be collected on motor fuel in a three-year period.

The bill also would add an annual fee for vehicles that run solely on electric, propane or compressed natural gas — $200 for individuals and $300 for commercial fleet vehicles.

And, while SPLOST and ELOST would continue to be collected on motor fuel sales, diesel sales would be exempt.

Still, members of the NWGRC board acknowledged that Georgia currently has no sustainable long-term plan to fund transportation improvements.

“The facts are that there is a billion-dollar problem in the state and it’s got to be fixed somehow,” said Whitfield County Commission Chairman Mike Babb. “There are going to have to be some compromises.”

HB 170 proposes replacing the sales tax on motor fuel with an excise tax of 29.2 cents per gallon, with all of the revenue earmarked for the state to cover a funding shortfall.

A joint study committee recommended the state invest over $1 billion annually in transportation projects, with more than $500 million coming from local sales taxes normally distributed among cities, counties and school systems.

Click to visit the Georgia Municipal Association website.

Source: Rome News

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