A T-SPLOST (transportation special-purpose local-option sales tax) referendum will be on our local ballet for the General Election, which will take place Nov. 6.

The referendum reads:

Shall a special one percent sales and use tax be imposed on the special district consisting of Lee County for a period of time not to exceed five years and for the raising of the estimated amount $19,369,748 for transportation purposes?

Our State Legislature put the T-SPLOST plan in place several years ago, and the taxpayers in more than half of the 159 counties in Georgia have approved this one-penny optional sales tax.

Local elected officials throughout the state are challenged to find enough funds to maintain their existing roads. According to state law, monies derived from these T-SPLOST funds can be used only for renovation, construction, improvement of roads, bridges, sidewalks, bike paths, improvement of water drainage from roads, and equipment used for maintaining roads.

Lee County has more than 200 miles of paved roads as well as 200-plus more miles of dirt roads that have to be maintained. It costs about $110,000 to resurface a paved road, and that is if that road has not deteriorated to the point that it would need to be replaced. Then it could cost upwards of a million dollars to replace.

Many of our existing roads in Lee County were constructed well over 30 years ago, with the projected life expectancy being 30 years. There comes a point in time that these roads cannot be simply “patched.”

Transportation is imperative for all of us to get to work, go shopping, and to accommodate people from other communities who come to Lee County to spend their money at our Walmart and other commercial businesses in the community. An extremely large percentage of local-option sales taxes collected in Lee County are from citizens who live in other counties. That means these “out-of-towners” will be helping to pay for the upkeep of our roads.

Also, I might mention that the passage of our T-SPLOST will not raise gas prices. Without the passage of T-SPLOST our local elected officials will continue to struggle to find the funding to “save” and “maintain” our existing roads, improve water drainage, which is a dangerous hazard during rainy periods, and build new roads that will encourage commercial investment and job growth in Lee County.

Our commercial tax base has increased by more than 350 percent in the last 15 years or so. These retailers pay taxes that help to hold down property taxes on local homeowners, not to mention these retailers collect local-option sales taxes. The last property tax increase approved by our commission was partly for the purpose of raising funds to “maintain our existing roads.”

Th Lee County Chamber of Commerce would like to encourage all Lee Countians to vote yes on T-SPLOST on Nov. 6 so that we can stabilize property taxes on our homes.