Joint Work Session for TSPLOST Project and Distribution

Business, Community

LUMPKIN COUNTY, Ga.- The Lumpkin County Commissioners and the Dahlonega City Council held a joint work session on Sept. 12 to continue discussions about the TSPLOST joint project and the TSPLOST distribution amount.

The two governments began discussing adding a TSPLOST to the ballot in Nov. back in Aug. That joint meeting can be found at https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/08/02/county-and-city-begin-tsplost-discussions/. That meeting formed a committee to review the potential projects and how the TSPLOST would be distributed between the two.

Commissioner District 3 Rhett Stringer while presenting the committee’s recommendations to the meeting.

The committee consisted of both elected officials and staff from both governments. Commissioner District 3 Rhett Stringer was present at both of the meetings the committee had because of that he was the one that made the recommendations to the meeting.

The City Council approved the project and the distribution ahead of this meeting at their regular meeting on Sept. 6, contingent on the future IGA between the two. To read about that meeting visit https://lumpkin.fetchyournews.com/2022/09/07/ahead-of-tsplost-joint-meeting-council-votes-on-distribution-and-project/. The commissioners have taken no prior action on this subject.

There were two projects that were brought before the committee for the consideration of being the TSPLOST joint project. The first was Mechanicsville Rd. straightening project. The City is already working on a project on that road to working on the storm sewers and because of this, the City is able to use current TSPLOST money to complete the rest of the work for this project.

The other project that was presented was the Auraria Road, Hwy 52/9 West, and Torrington Road intersections. This is the project that both governments agree needs their attention. They will work with the DOT on how best to tackle this project.

For the distribution of the funds, the committee discussed using 75% of the population and 25% road miles to determine the split. This gives the county 81% and the city 19% of the funds.

Heard in the clip above is Mayor JoAnne Taylor expressing the City’s view on the divide. To review the memo presented to the Council at the regular meeting visit https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/dahlonega-pubu/MEET-Packet-39991ca72e2e4d00b62932c8a9711a47.pdf, it begins on page 85.

Now that the project and the distribution have been decided the two have to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) and call for a resolution to have the TSPLOST added to the ballot. The council is holding a special call meeting on Sept. 19 and it is likely they will vote on the IGA at that meeting. The Commissioners will vote on the IGA and the resolution at their meeting on Sept. 20 at 6:00 p.m.

For more voter information and to view sample ballots visit https://www.lumpkincounty.gov/183/Elections-Registration.

Back to Top