{"id":463,"date":"2012-09-28T08:41:52","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T12:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/splost-vii-project-totals-dont-match.html"},"modified":"2012-09-28T08:41:52","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T12:41:52","slug":"splost-vii-project-totals-dont-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/splost-vii-project-totals-dont-match.html","title":{"rendered":"SPLOST VII project totals don’t match"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nIt would be easier for people to vote for SPLOST VII if they knew\nwhat they were getting.\nSo far, that’s difficult to tell from what’s been published.\nMany questions remain to be answered.\n<\/p>\n

\nWe’ve already seen\n\nthe WCTV story that quotes a total of $35 million for SPLOST VII.<\/a>\nAnd Jason Schaefer wrote for the VDT 5 August 2012,\n\nSPLOST project list released:\nRenewed sales tax would build library, auditorium<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\n<\/a>\nThe county projects penny sales tax collections through SPLOST VII\nto total at least $150 million during a six-year period, a sum that\ncould fund a library complex, an auditorium, the installation of a\nmandated public safety radio system, an array of municipal water and\nsewage improvements, new equipment for police officers and\nfirefighters, and road maintenance projects.\n<\/p>\n

\nThere is not adequate funding for these projects if the SPLOST\nreferendum does not pass, according to city and county planners.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n$150 million is not $35 million.\n$150 million divided by six is $25 million, not $35 million.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe mystery deepens.\n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n

\nThe library facility is the most expensive project, with an\nestimated cost of $22 million. That price tag includes the building\nitself as well as parks and recreation facilities planned to\nsurround and enhance the facility.\n<\/p>\n

\nAs a county government, Lowndes is responsible for local library\nfacilities,\u201d County Manager Joe Pritchard said in a statement.\n\u201cMany have expressed their support for a new main library to\nbe built on property at the current Five Points location. If SPLOST\nVII does not pass, there is no additional funding available in the\ncounty’s budget to build the new facility.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nThe library would be constructed in Valdosta’s Five Points shopping\narea alongside a $20 million city auditorium that SPLOST would also\nfund.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nOK, that’s $22 million + $20 million = $42 million,\nwhich is more<\/em> than $35 million.\n<\/p>\n

\nMaybe that means that the library and the auditorium are not meant\nto be funded entirely through SPLOST VII funds.\nOK, how much?\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nThe price of road improvement projects comes in at a close second to\nthese new facilities. The county expects to spend more than $18.5\nmillion of the projected SPLOST revenues if the referendum passes,\nand the city projects their streets will cost more than $12.7\nmillion to improve.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n$18.5 million + $12.7 million = $31.2 million.\nAnd WCTV’s $35 million – $31.2 million = $3.8 million.\nWhich is about 9% of the $42 million price tag for the library and auditorium.\nWhy is SPLOST VII so important to the library and auditorium\nif it will fund only 9% of their cost?\nWhere does the rest of the funding for the library and auditorium come from?\nWhere does SPLOST VII money for following years go?\nMaybe that $31.2 million for roads is over multiple years?\n

\nBut wait!\nThere are more SPLOST VII projects mentioned in the article,\nand also\n\nlisted on the Lowndes County website.<\/a>\nHere they all are, grouped by topic,\nwith dollar figures according to the VDT article:\n<\/p>\n

\n\n\"SPLOST<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Buildings<\/h3>\nWhat if we repurposed some of the mostly-empty buildings downtown,\nsuch as the historic courthouse and the soon-to-be-empty federal building?\nWouldn’t that be less expensive and more centrally-located than building\nnew buildings?\n