Richmond County voters will decide today whether the Augusta Commission's $184.7 million one-cent sales tax package sets a course for city projects leading into the next decade or if commissioners go back to the drawing board and try again next year. IF YOU VOTE
All 52 polling locations in Richmond County will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today. Voters must provide one of six acceptable forms of ID:
- A valid Georgia driver's license
- Any valid state or federal government-issued photo ID
- Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency or entity of the U.S. government, Georgia or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of Georgia
- Valid U.S. passport
- Valid U.S. military photo ID
- Valid tribal photo ID
Note: "Precinct cards," which registered voters receive to confirm registration and voting location, are not sufficient identification. Need to find out where you vote? Call the Board of Elections office at (706) 821-2340.
Expected Turnout
Final results are expected around 10 p.m. Lynn Bailey, the executive director of the Richmond County Board of Elections, predicts turnout of 10 percent to 12 percent - 11,100 to 13,400 voters. Over the past five weeks, 2,230 people cast ballots in early and advance voting.
If it passes
The county will continue collecting an extra penny for every dollar spent on items subject to state sales tax. Collections for this tax package would start Oct. 1, 2010, and last until September 2015.
If it fails
Georgia law requires the city to wait a year before putting another package before voters. The next opportunity would be statewide primary elections slated for July 20, 2010.
What they're saying
For: "I think everyone understands that we need this. This is a no-brainer." - Butch Gallop, a consultant for sales tax projects manager Heery International Inc.
Against: "People in this town are getting tired of the way the government's being run. Taxation is a necessary evil, but it doesn't have to be taken to the extreme that it is now." - Libertarian Party of the CSRA spokesman Taylor Bryant
RELATED STORIES
June 16: Editorial: Say 'Yes' today for Augusta
June 16: SPLOST VI: Vote today
June 15: SPLOST VI: Taxes won and lost
June 14: Worth every penny?
June 13: Plan would revamp blighted inner city
June 10: Sales tax meeting answers questions
June 9: Beard motions for bond issue for revitalization
June 8: Advance voting begins
June 8: Live chat: SPLOST VI debate
May 27: Commissioners split on TEE center
May 22: TEE center stuck in neutral
May 21: Revised TEE center plan will be presented
May 11: Early voting starts today
SAMPLE BALLOT
View a sample ballot for this month's special election, in which voters will decide the SPLOST issue.
SALES TAX PROJECT BREAKDOWN
Of the money to be raised by extending the 1-cent sales tax, 67 percent would go toward infrastructure. The sales tax list also includes:
- $18 million for Municipal Building renovations
- $17 million to replace police vehicles and fire trucks
- $10.9 million for parks and recreation
- $10 million to pay off debt from money fronted to the Medical College of Georgia to buy Gilbert Manor public housing project
- $5.7 million for Hephzibah and Blythe
- $5.1 million toward the Augusta Symphony's restoration of the Miller Theatre
- $4 million to dredge Lake Olmstead
- $3.5 million to create a lake near Regency Mall, part of a strategy to spur redevelopment there
- $2.5 million for Paine College's Health Education Activities Learning Complex
SPLOST package grand total: $184,724,000
Infrastructure projects ($124,055,000)
| Airports | ||
| Augusta Regional Airport | Eastside Access Economic Development Program - Element 1 | 8,500,000 |
| Daniel Field Airport | Airport Terminal Renovation | 2,000,000 |
| Total: | $10,500,000 | |
| "Augusta projects" | ||
| Webster Detention Center | 18,000,000 | |
| Sheriff Administration Building | 6,000,000 | |
| Total: | $24,000,000 | |
| Fire department | ||
| Training Center Infrastructure | 2,000,000 | |
| Total: | $2,000,000 | |
| Engineering | ||
| Traffic Sign Upgrade Program | 300,000 | |
| Lake Olmstead Dredging | 4,000,000 | |
| Martin Luther King Drive | 1,250,000 | |
| Garden City Beautification Initiative | 500,000 | |
| Rocky Creek Drainage Plan / Regency Mall | 3,500,000 | |
| Total: | $35,675,000 | |
| Library | ||
| Maxwell Branch Library | 900,000 | |
| Friedman Branch Library | 600,000 | |
| Total: | $1,500,000 | |
| Augusta-Richmond County authorities | ||
| Downtown Development Authority | 1,200,000 | |
| Development Authority of Richmond County | 1,200,000 | |
| Augusta Canal Authority | 4,170,000 | |
| Total: | $6,570,000 | |
| Public Services | ||
| Public Services | Municipal Building Renovations | 18,000,000 |
| Public Services | Grading and Drainage | 4,500,000 |
| Public Services | Green Space - CSR Land Trust | 500,000 |
| Public Services | Suburban Forces-Resurfacing | 3,000,000 |
| Public Services | Tree Removal, Pruning and Replacement | 1,000,000 |
| Public Services | Sidewalks-Rehab-Replacement | 1,000,000 |
| Public Services | Curb Cuts and Sidewalks | 500,000 |
| Public Services | Resurfacing - Contracts | 3,000,000 |
| Public Services | General Bridge Rehab and Maintenance | 3,000,000 |
| Total: | $34,500,000 | |
| Traffic engineering | ||
| I-20 Eastbound/Riverwatch Ramp | 1,100,000 | |
| Walton Way Signal Phase 2 and Streetlight Upgrade | 800,000 | |
| Gordon Highway Lighting Upgrade | 1,500,000 | |
| Reynolds Street Signal Improvements | 575,000 | |
| Signal Upgrades | 1,250,000 | |
| 15th Street Pedestrian Improvements | 800,000 | |
| Intersection Safety and Operational Initiative | 2,550,000 | |
| Total: | 8,575,000 | |
| Transit | ||
| South Augusta Transit Center | 190,000 | |
| Renovation Augusta Public Transit Facilities | 125,000 | |
| Transit Vehicle Purchase | 420,000 | |
| Total: | $735,000 | |
| Infrastructure Total: | $124,055,000 | |
Non-infrastructure ($60,669,000)
| "Augusta projects" | ||
| MCG-Gilbert Manor Debt | 10,000,000 | |
| Project Management | 2,000,000 | |
| Total: | $12,000,000 | |
| Fire department | ||
| Emergency Fleet Replacement | 9,500,000 | |
| Total: | $9,500,000 | |
| Fleet | ||
| Public Safety Vehicles | 7,500,000 | |
| Total: | $7,500,000 | |
| Library | ||
| New Headquarters Library | 1,000,000 | |
| Total: | $1,000,000 | |
| Outside agencies | ||
| Historic Augusta, Inc. | Wilson & Lamar Historic Sites | 125,000 |
| The Augusta Symphony | The Augusta Theatre District Project | 5,283,600 |
| The Augusta Symphony | Augusta Mini Theatre | 716,400 |
| Pendleton King Park Foundation | Pendleton King Park Connectivity Improvements | 200,000 |
| Delta House Inc. | Lucy Laney Craft Museum of Black History | 600,000 |
| Augusta Museum of History | Augusta Museum of History | 600,000 |
| Jessye Norman School of Arts | Handicap Access Project | 95,000 |
| Imperial Theatre | Theatre Improvements | 1,000,000 |
| Boys and Girls Club | E.W. Hagler Club Renovations | 500,000 |
| Augusta Urban Ministries | Roof Replacement | 175,000 |
| Paine College | Health Education Activates Learning Complex | 2,500,000 |
| Golden Harvest Food Bank | New Building | 250,000 |
| Total: | $12,045,000 | |
| Recreation | ||
| Capital Equipment | 150,000 | |
| Existing Structural Improvement Fund | 950,000 | |
| Augusta Common | 100,000 | |
| Dyess Park | 800,000 | |
| Lake Olmstead | 600,000 | |
| May Park | 150,000 | |
| Old Government House | 200,000 | |
| The Boathouse | 450,000 | |
| Elliott Park | 100,000 | |
| Fleming Park | 250,000 | |
| Fleming Tennis Center | 600,000 | |
| Augusta Soccer Complex | 150,000 | |
| Diamond Lakes Regional | 1,350,000 | |
| McDuffie Woods | 200,000 | |
| Augusta Golf Course | 300,000 | |
| H. H. Brigham | 250,000 | |
| Valley Park | 250,000 | |
| Wood Park | 50,000 | |
| Butler Creek & Hwy 56 | 500,000 | |
| Brookfield | 100,000 | |
| Eisenhower | 100,000 | |
| Warren Road | 150,000 | |
| Blythe Community | 500,000 | |
| Jamestown Community | 200,000 | |
| Augusta Marinas | 50,000 | |
| Lake Olmstead Stadium | 100,000 | |
| 4-H Camp | 50,000 | |
| Community Wide Tennis Court Resurfacing | 150,000 | |
| Community Wide Swimming Pool Renovations | 900,000 | |
| Recreation Planning - Master Plan | 200,000 | |
| Administration | 1,000,000 | |
| Total: | $10,900,000 | |
| Intergovernmental allocations | ||
| City of Hephzibah | 4,424,000 | |
| City of Blythe | 1,300,000 | |
| Total: | $5,724,000 | |
| Information technology | ||
| Network Assessment Remediation | 250,000 | |
| Redundant Fiber Ring | 250,000 | |
| Digital Orthophotography | 500,000 | |
| Software Application Consolidation | 1,000,000 | |
| Total: | $2,000,000 | |
| Non-infrastructure Total: | $60,669,000 | |
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