Writer: Gordon Jackson
Published July 27, 2022
Yahoo! News from The Brunswick News, Ga.
The Glynn County Commission unanimously approved two resolutions Tuesday that will set in motion a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum in the Nov. 8 general election.
The first resolution was to approve an intergovernmental agreement between the county and the city of Brunswick. The agreement determines the share of proceeds between the two municipalities during the six years the 1-cent tax is collected.
Before the vote, County Attorney Aaron Mumford explained the tier system that prioritizes Tier 1 projects over Tier 2 projects. All Tier 1 projects must be funded before any Tier 2 projects can be started in case the money projected to be generated by the tax falls short of projections.
Glynn County, the city of Brunswick, the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission, Jekyll Island Authority, Brunswick-Glynn Economic Development Authority and Glynn County Airport Commission would each get a cut of the proposed tax that generate between $130 million to $170 million.
The second resolution establishes when the Glynn County Board of Elections and Registration schedules the election.
Before the vote, Commissioner Cap Fendig explained why he supports the tax, even though he's heard lots of criticism by constituents on St. Simons Island who are opposed to a SPLOST.
"We have people just naysaying SPLOST," he said.
He said a recent study by the Carl Vinson Institute estimates nearly 44% of the SPLOST collected comes from visitors living outside of Glynn County. And another study estimates that 75% of people who drive to beaches in Georgia do so in the Golden Isles.
"When visitors come to Georgia, they go the beach," he said.
Those same visitors, estimated at more than 3 million last year, put wear and tear on county roads. They also depend on the same public safety departments as local residents, he said.
And the market has changed in recent years.
"The market of visitation has substantially changed, and it's in short-term rentals," Fendig said.
As many as 2,000 short-term rental units on the island capable of housing six people have changed the visitors' market on St. Simons Island, he said.
The tier system is one way to create public confidence in the plan. Another is for all SPLOST projects to be overseen by a project manager instead of county staff.
"We can't put the everyday burden to staff (to manage SPOLST projects)," Fendig said. "It is outside reasonable expectations."
But it's the long list of prior SPLOST projects that Fendig said show how impactful the tax can be. He ran off a long list that included improvements to parks, libraries, roads, public safety, recreation, traffic, cultural investments and municipal buildings.
"These are the benefits that come out of SPLOST," he said. "My fellow commissioners went overboard to complete a great SPLOST."
