T-SPLOST: Response To The ARC ’10 Facts’ E-mail

From PATCH.com Tax Activist Mike Lowry offers this rebuttal to ARC twist on T-SPLOST:

Monday morning, July 23, the ARC sent out an email titled “10 Facts about the Regional Transportation Referendum”.  I would like to respond.

1. Low spending and high congestion: Georgia ranks 48th in the nation in transportation spending per capita, and ranks 4th in total hours the average commuter spends in on the road each day.

Yes, we need to find more money for transportation. But first, we need to manage what we are spending more intelligently. GDOT has failed its last 4 audits and can’t seem to find about $1 billion. Also, according to ARC’s own analyst after we spend $8 billion on these projects the reduction in commute times will be “not much”.

2. Little room for expansion: Without additional funding, about 70 percent of metro Atlanta’s scheduled transportation dollars for the next 30 years will be spent on maintaining our current transportation network, leaving little room for expansion.

Again, we need to fix GDOT first. Maintaining the roads can only be efficient if they can prudently maintain their accounts.

AJC Reports: T-SPLOST Project List Leaves Voters “in the dark”

AJC reports that the 15% local discretionary project lists allowed by the Transportation Investment Act (TIA) may never be revealed by city and county governments until after the July 31 tax vote.

The local list may be worth more than $1 billion.  Voters have no idea what they will actually be voting for according to the AJC.

We encourage you to vote “NO” on this 10 year tax referendum

Read the story here>>>>

Each of the region’s counties, cities and towns would get a share of the $1 billion to spend on transportation. But unlike the regional $6 billion fund, there is no requirement to list a single project for the $1 billion local fund. In many cases, voters at the polls July 31 will have no way of knowing where the projects are that the local money would build.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey of all 78 of the region’s city, town and county governments found that more than half don’t even have a project list more than two years after the referendum bill became law.

Should We Trust GDOT with $18.6 Billion?

WSB TV Reporter Richard Belcher finds GDOT Mismanagement. Should we truth them with $18.6 Billion? READ MORE>>>

 

 

By Richard Belcher

ATLANTA —The Georgia Department of Transportation spends more than $2 billion in taxes every year, but the agency’s financial management has ranged from terrible to poor for years, according to auditors.

“They are better now, but they still don’t have adequate financial controls to prepare and present materially accurate financial statement in accordance with the law,” said Dyke.

The most contentious issue is that GDOT has moved money among its 15 or 18 separate programs without the approval of the legislature, which
is illegal.

Auditors said the confusion over the various programs is so great that neither GDOT nor the auditors can say whether the agency spent its
money as the legislature intended last year.