CummingHome

In an effort to ensure citizen participation in the allocation of transportation funds, the board of commissioners has appointed a seven member citizens committee, charged with the task of deciding where $219 million of transportation money will be spent over the next 5 years.

The seven member committee, consisting of citizens appointed by the Board of Commissioners, plus representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and the Senior Community, met Monday for the first time to begin the task of prioritizing the county’s projects.

For every dollar spent in Forsyth County, a one cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) is collected for the county to use on local projects. This measure is approved every 5 years by all registered voters in the county, and is once again up for renewal on the February 5th election ballot.

Assuming a successful campaign, the revenues from SPLOST VI are estimated to be in the range of $260 million to a maximum of $275 million dollars over the next 5 years. The board of commissioners has allocated about 80% of this revenue ($219 million) to transportation.

“The job is simple in concept – choose the best projects. The devil of course is in the details” Commissioner Harrell stated.

Serving on the committee are:

* Chairman - Jim Boff (District 1)
* Vice Chairman - Ernest Turner (District 5)
* Charles I. Smith (District 2)
* Bob Charles (District 3)
* Charles Cantrell (District 4)
* Tracy Moon (Cumming-Forsyth County 
   Chamber of Commerce representative); and
* John Manton (senior community representative).  

The committee will hold a series of open meetings to discuss the projects in detail and to ultimately produce a recommendation for the Board of Commissioners.

Click Here To download and view the entire video (1 Gb)

The next two meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, November 28th at 4pm, and Thursday December 6th at 4pm, both in the commissioners boardroom.