Local government officials agree to T-SPLOST changes

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Government officials in Milledgeville and Baldwin County have unanimously approved of new changes regarding the proposed Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST) referendum set for this fall.

Voters will ultimately decide its fate at the ballot box.

The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners recently approved changes to the T-SPLOST proposal and adopted a resolution.

Members of Milledgeville City Council had requested that some of the language be changed in the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) and for a list of roads slated for resurfacing with the funds generated from the T-SPLOST, if voters approve it.

Commissioners also accepted a recommendation from Baldwin County attorney Brandon Palmer to not use T-SPLOST funds on the Georgia’s Old Capital Heritage Center at the Depot renovations, citing state requirements.

“Georgia law only allows T-SPLOST funds to be spent on capital projects owned or operated by the county, city, a local authority, or the state of Georgia,” Palmer told commissioners. “The county has recently learned that the property the Capital Museum sits on is not owned by any such government entity.”

Palmer said when county commissioners approved the list of T-SPLOST projects, Baldwin County was under the mistaken belief that a governmental entity still had possession of property, but it was later discovered that the property is owned by a private entity.

City leaders recently approved an amendment to the T-SPLOST resolution.

“We adopted the T-SPLOST and governmental agreement with the board of commissioners as they presented it to us in what we thought would be its final form,” Milledgeville Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan said. “At their meeting, the commissioners discussed every agreement and made changes to the list of streets they wanted included in the referendum and thereby changed Exhibit A.”

After the commissioners agreed to make the changes, they sent the amended intergovernmental agreement back to city leaders for their approval.

City Alderman Walter Reynolds made a motion to adopt the changes. The motion received a second from Alderman Steve Chambers. The other four members of city council, Jeanette Walden, Denese Shinholster, Dr. Collinda Lee and Shonya Mapp, agreed with the motion.