Blackmon: Voting 'yes' on shades-of-gray SPLOST

On Nov. 2, we'll vote on SPLOST 2011, a 1 percent sales tax that would be in effect for nine years and is projected to generate more than $195 million. That money would fund 35 projects, the largest being a new Athens-Clarke County jail, at $76.6 million. The smallest is $193,000 for a new center for hard-to-recycle materials.

In general, I support the special-purpose, local-option sales tax because it is time-limited, specifically dedicated to projects known in advance, and spreads the cost in a way that offers some relief to tiny Athens-Clarke County with its huge load of tax-exempt land. (Full disclosure: between 1996 and 2004, my public relations firm worked with the county government in public input on a wide range of projects; we also helped the SPLOST IV committee gain the successful passage of that package.)

Recently, I have become a bit concerned about the use of SPLOST funding. Sometimes I wonder if we are gorging ourselves when we ought to be taking small portions. The broad range of projects, developed with a something-for-everyone approach, may have become a bit too expansive for what I believe is an impending era of ongoing revenue reduction for all governments.

From the Athens-Clarke County website, I printed the list of 35 projects. Then, with the thumbnail descriptions, I went through the list. I gave each item a priority rating from 1 to 3.

First priority was for those projects that directly affect public health, safety and essential infrastructure or play a significant role in addressing our problems of poverty, poor educational achievement and economic development. First priority included projects like improvements to law enforcement facilities, expansion of the library and facilities for education and youth development. I have written before that we must deal with building a new jail, even though it is not pleasant to think about, and SPLOST is the most cost-effective way to do that. There were 14 projects in this group.

Second priority was for those projects that may not be essential, but that positively influence the lives of many people, and may not be feasible for private-sector development. These included parks facilities, the greenway and bicycle improvements.

I believe these projects are important enough to have significant impact on economic development and