Shamsul I. Baker

[Company name]

[Date]

Henry County Department of

Transportation Planning

March 2020

Henry County T-SPLOST

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Introduction T-SPLOST stands for Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. It is an additional tax on

the sales of products and services for the purpose of raising revenue to fund transportation infrastructure

projects.

State Enabling Legislation The State of Georgia enacted the Transportation Funding Act in 2015, formerly known as HB 170. This

legislation gave county governments the authority to impose their own T-SPLOST as follows:

• A county T-SPLOST may be imposed at a fractional rate up to 1% in 0.05% increments. However,

if a county does not reach an intergovernmental agreement with its respective municipalities, the

maximum rate of tax for the county T-SPLOST cannot exceed 0.75%.

• County T-SPLOSTs may not exceed 5 years. All revenue must be dedicated to transportation and

at least 30% of estimated revenue must be spent on projects consistent with the Statewide Strategic

Transportation Plan (SSTP).

• Voters must approve the county TSPLOST through a referendum.

• To qualify to hold a TSPLOST referendum, a county must already impose a regular SPLOST.

• Funds can be spent on “transportation purposes”, as defined in the law below:

O.C.G.A. 48-8-260(5):

(5) 'Transportation purposes' means and includes roads, bridges, public transit, rails, airports,

buses, seaports, including without limitation road, street, and bridge purposes pursuant to

paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Code Section 48-8-121(see below), and all accompanying

infrastructure and services necessary to provide access to these transportation facilities,

including new general obligation debt and other multiyear obligations issued to finance such

purposes. Such purposes shall also include the retirement of previously incurred general

obligation debt with respect only to such purposes, but only if an intergovernmental agreement

has been entered into under this part.

Code Section 48-8-121(b)(1):

If the resolution or ordinance calling for the imposition of the tax specified that the proceeds of

the tax are to be used in whole or in part for capital outlay projects consisting of road, street, and

bridge purposes, then authorized uses of the tax proceeds shall include:

A. Acquisition of rights of way for roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, and bicycle paths;

B. Construction of roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, and bicycle paths;

C. Renovation and improvement of roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, and bicycle paths,

including resurfacing;

D. Relocation of utilities for roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, and bicycle paths;

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E. Improvement of surface-water drainage from roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, and bicycle

paths; and

F. Patching, leveling, milling, widening, shoulder preparation, culvert repair, and other repairs

necessary for the preservation of roads, streets, bridges, sidewalks, and bicycle paths.

G. Storm-water capital outlay projects and drainage capital outlay projects may be funded

pursuant to subparagraph (a)(1)(D) of Code Section 48-8-111 or in conjunction with road,

street, and bridge capital outlay projects.

The definition of transportation purposes does not directly address transit operations. However, the text

“and services” is considered to allow some degree of transit operations. Please note that a jurisdiction can

also retire previously incurred general obligation debt with proceeds from the tax.

Potential Revenue A T-SPLOST of up to 1% is estimated to raise an additional $204 million over a five-year period. This

estimate is based on Henry County’s latest SPLOST V revenue projection. But, unlike a SPLOST which

is divvied up among many transportation and non-transportation capital projects, a T-SPLOST revenue

will be devoted 100% to transportation projects such as roads, bridges, sidewalks, and trails.

Funding Need Presently, funding for transportation projects in Henry County come from three sources:

1. Federal gasoline and diesel tax

2. State excise tax on fuel

3. Henry County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax

Out of these three funding sources, the federal funds account for the lion share of funds for transportation

projects in the county. But the federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993 while the cost of

transportation projects and materials have gone up with inflation. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of

automobiles has increased significantly over the decades resulting in reduced fuel consumption per

vehicle and, thus, lower revenue for roads and bridges.

Henry County developed and adopted a Comprehensive Transportation Plan in 2016. This Plan

recommended projects worth $3.31 billion to year 2040 to meet its transportation infrastructure needs.

Out of this amount, the Plan identified funding for $1.17 billion worth of projects and, thus, leaving a list

of transportation projects worth $2.14 billion with no funding identified as shown below:

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Source: Henry County Comprehensive Transportation Plan

The above-mentioned shortfall of $2.14 billion consists of $787 million of road widenings, $19 million

of new roads, $126 million of arterial upgrades, $30 million of sidewalks, $90 million of greenway trails,

and $13 million of intersection improvements (see project list on pages 5 and 6).

What is not mentioned above is funding needs for Henry County Transit (HCT). As Henry County

becomes more urbanized, the County is expected to lose significant federal transit operations funding

from the Federal Transit Administration following the 2020 Census. Henry County, therefore, needs to

find an alternate local funding source to replace the lost federal funds and still meet transit service needs

of its growing population. Alternately, HCT will be forced to cut service.

Henry County is about to embark on the update of its 2016 Comprehensive Transportation Plan and

Transit Plan. In addition, the County is planning to develop a Trails Plan. From these three upcoming

transportation planning initiatives will come three lists of transportation, transit, and trail projects for

implementation between 2020 and 2050 with a need for funding. A potential T-SPLOST of around $200

million will help Henry County accomplish three goals:

1. Fund some additional projects that are presently unfunded.

2. Accelerate some higher-need current projects through local funding and, thus, leaving federal and

state dollars for other projects.

3. Access additional federal and state funds and grants that require a local match.

Projects identified but presently unfunded in the Comprehensive Transportation Plan are shown on pages

4 through 6:

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5

Henry County Transportation Plan Unfunded Project List

Continued on page 6

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Conclusion A T-SPLOST will enable Henry County to fund some of the needed projects listed above which will

otherwise remain unfunded for the foreseeable future.

Sources http://www.gatransportation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/GTA-Final-Summary-of-HB-1701.pdf

http://www.ciclt.net/ul/accg/GenericTSPLOSTInformationQandADocument.pdf

https://www.co.henry.ga.us/Departments/S-Z/SPLOST

Henry County Comprehensive Transportation Plan