Apr. 6—A special one-cent sales tax is now being collected on every dollar in Milledgeville and Baldwin County to help generate funds for roads and bridges, as well as specialized equipment needed to perform such tasks.
Collection on the new Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax or what also is simply known as T-SPLOST began Monday, April 1.
The special tax is expected to generate up to $45 million over the next five years, according to Baldwin County Manager Carlos Tobar.
An overwhelming number of residents voted to approve T-SPLOST in a special referendum held in November 2023. A total of 74% of the voters approved of the new taxation, while 26% rejected the idea.
"Many of our roadways need a lot of attention," Tobar said.
For motorists, it's rough on the suspensions of vehicles, as well as the tires on these vehicles, the county manager said.
Baldwin County Engineer Brian Wood was supposed to have sent Tobar a list of the roads and bridges needing work on Wednesday. The list subsequently was then going to be shared with all five members of the Baldwin County Board of Commissioners.
Between now and the next commission meeting in May, a priority list is expected to be completed by commissioners and then made public.
Three of the roads very likely to be on that list include Log Cabin Road, Pinecrest Road, and Pettigrew Road.
In the past, Tobar has said the county has about 140 miles of roads that they intend to resurface, but it won't happen overnight.
"This will be a process and it will take a long time to complete, but at least we're a lot closer to seeing some of this taking place than we would have been had voters not seen fit to approve the T-SPLOST," Tobar said.
In previous years, the county has only been able to resurface about five miles of roadway every year.
The county manager said during those times, the county was spending about $1 million a year.
"It's very expensive to resurface roadways and repair bridges today," Tobar said.
Funding for roads and street projects, bridge repairs and equipment and other things such as storm drainage, right-of-way maintenance and sidewalk repairs will not come just from the new one-cent special tax on each dollar spent by local residents and others doing business in Milledgeville and Baldwin County, he pointed out.
Tobar said the county anticipated to collect $28.8 million from T-SPLOST collections. That amount of money will be be supplemented with an estimated $3.6 million from an (LMIG) Local Maintenance Improvement Grant over the next five years.