If the regional transportation roundtable does not agree on a list
to present to the voters by October 15th of 2011,
then each jurisdiction in this region must match their
Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant … at a rate of 50%.
That’s
Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant Program (LMIG).
So if they get $100,000 from LMIG they’ll have to match that with $50,000.
This will affect smaller communities the most, since they use the
most LMIG funds proportionally.
And the most likely way to raise the funds to match is to raise property taxes.
So what if there is a list on the ballot but the voters vote it down?
Continue reading →
The 75% pot of T-SPLOST funds is what the project lists recently
submitted by Lowndes County
and the City of Valdosta are about,
according to
Corey Hull, continuing his presentation on T-SPLOST at the Lowndes County
Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting.
Those are projects of regional significance
that the local jurisdictions want the voters to actually
vote on that project.
The other 25% goes to local jurisdictions, like this:
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VLMPO)
explains T-SPLOST (HB 277) and the Transportation Investment Act of 2010
at the monthly meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
The plan identifies
$35 billion to meet the needs in Georgia today.
However, $72 billion are needed to meet the transportation
needs to sustain Georgia’s economy into the future.
Of course, that’s according to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT),
which notoriously is not interested in trains or other mass transit:
if it’s not a road or a road bridge, forget it.
Continuing:
And $1 billion is needed here in Lowndes County.
Lowndes County’s transportation plan through the
Metropolitan Planning Organization
has about a billion dollars in projects.
T-SPLOST is a ten-year one-cent sales tax,
organized in twelve regional taxing districts,
through committees composed of county chairs and city mayors,
plus an executive committee with some of them plus 3 people from the
legislature, which funnels transportation funding requests to GDOT,
which picks, and then sends to a referendum in 2012.
Got all that?
No?
Well, Corey explains it much better than I do.
The Georgia legislature passed what was then known as House bill 277
called
Transportation Investment Act of 2010….
It created or proposed a one percent sales tax for transportation purposes
throughout the state of Georgia.
It creates
twelve special transportation taxing districts
that are based on the boundaries of the regional commissions.
And that is where the connection with the regional commission stops.
They are not the same body….
Norman Bennett, VLCIA board member and former chairman of the Lowndes County Commmission,
asked Corey Hull:
Can you explain that again for me about the penalties if the voters don’t pass the tax?
If the county’s got a project, then they’ve got to put up ten percent
or whatever the percentage is?
What’s this about yet another sales tax decided on by
regional transportation boards and GDOT?
Corey Hull of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Metropolitan Planning Organization
(VLMPO)
explained T-SPLOST
at the regular monthly meeting,
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA).
Georgia HB 277, which was passed by the legislature and signed into law
last year,
calls for a 1% regional sales tax (T-SPLOST) to fund
transportation projects.
LAKE is thrilled when the VDT covers things so we don’t have to.
David S. Rodock in his writeup in VDT this morning on
yesterday’s Lowndes County Commission meeting
includes this list that was not displayed in the public meeting,
yet was approved by the commissioners.
Car 41 No where are you?
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Call to Order
Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
Minutes for Approval – Regular Session – March 8, 2011
Resolutions
Adopt Resolution accepting infrastructure for Cypress Lakes Subdivision Phase V
Grant Re-Application for the Rural Transportation Program and Associated Resolution
Public Hearing – Grant Re-Application for the Rural Transportation Program Public Hearing
Citizens Wishing to be Heard Please State Name And Address
For Consideration
Proposal from Hulsey, McCormick, and Wallace, Inc. for Groundwater Sampling and Analysis at
the Clyattville Landfill
Why do some people deny the overwhelming science of climate
change in a time when the evidence and analysis is so thorough
and so conclusive that no reputable scientific organization
in the world doubts any longer that humans are changing the climate
of the whole planet for the worse:
because it threatens their political and economic beliefs.
Naomi Klein: Why Climate Change Is So Threatening to Right-Wing Ideologues:
And the reason is that climate change is now seen as an identity issue
on the right. People are defining themselves, like they’re against
abortion, they don’t believe in climate change. It’s part of who
they are.
It’s like denying the earth goes around the sun.
Why would they identify with such a silly thing?
Because of what actually dealing with climate change would mean:
Continue reading →
Monthly LAKE Meeting
When: 5:30-6:45 PM, Tuesday 1 March 2011
Updated meeting location
Where: home of Thomas Ieracitano
414 East Main Street, Hahira
229-251-2462
That’s on US 122, just east of the Masonic Lodge.
Thomas says:
“Bring a lawn chair, laptop (I will have Mediacom wireless)
and your own food and drink.”
If it rains or there are too many bugs or something,
we will move to:
Down Home Pizza
103 South Webb Street, Hahira
229-794-1888
Help cover food, water, transportation, incarceration, solar energy,
biomass, and regular local government meetings: you never know when
news will be made!
If the regional transportation roundtable does not agree on a list to present to the voters by October 15th of 2011, then each jurisdiction in this region must match their Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant … at a rate of 50%.
