Some $426 million in projects are a “foundation” for the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 9 package on which the Augusta Commission will likely cut and build.
Administrator Tameka Allen presented her recommended projects Tuesday for SPLOST 9, going before voters Nov. 4 if the Augusta Commission makes an August deadline for making some final decisions.
Allen said the administration had done its best to develop a “balanced package” that includes public safety, infrastructure and quality of life projects, but emphasized it was only a recommended foundation. The projects include “tangible” projects voters can see in a few years while others may be done in phases and finished later, she said.
The list reflects two of Augusta’s most desperate needs, “our infrastructure and our facilities,” Allen said.
While she slashed heavily at the $1 billion-plus in projects submitted by Augusta departments and authorities, the remaining $426 million package is a large one, Allen said. It will take about seven years for 1% sales tax collections to reach the mark, she said.
Public safety projects made up the largest percentage or about 27% of the package. Twenty-six percent was infrastructure and facilities while 21% was “general government” projects such as IT work, including for public safety, and building renovations, according to the presentation.
Public safety projects
- Richmond County Sheriff’s Office – Allen reduced Sheriff Gino Brantley’s request for two new jail pods with 300 beds to one, with a $65 million allocation plus $15 million for vehicles
- Augusta Fire Department – Overlooked in SPLOST 8, the package includes $14 million to rebuild two fire stations and $14.8 million to replace fire apparatus
- Additional public safety vehicles – $4 million
- Richmond County Marshal’s Office – $535,000 for airport security integration
Quality of life projects
- Aquatics facilities renovation – $7 million to revitalize several pools
- City cemeteries – $3 million for Magnolia, Cedar Grove and West View cemeteries
- Augusta soccer park – $2 million
- Capital equipment – $2.5 million
- Diamond Lakes Regional Park – $7.7 million
- Georgia state veterans cemetery – $3 million of the $23 million estimated now needed for the project
- Marina renovations – $3 million
- New west Augusta park and community center – $10 million for the fast-growing area, Allen said
- New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam – $4.3 million for park renovations
- Riverwalk, boathouse reconstruction – $3 million expected to enhance new adventure park
- Transit – $3 million to match federal grants
General projects
- IT server room – $4.5 million
- Mobile data terminal replacements – $1.7 million
- Public safety software – $5 million
- Software consolidation – $1.7 million
- Facility renovations – $10 million, a “dire need,” Allen said
- Fleet service center – $15 million to renovate existing Broad Street facility
- Augusta Animal Services building – $5.5 million
- Richmond County Coroner’s Office building – $6.6 million
- Juvenile court facilities at former Craig-Houghton Elementary – $15 million
- Feasibility and design study for a “South Augusta Annex” and joint operations center – $2 million
- Bond interest – $20 million to borrow $75 million for jail pod
- Hephzibah and Blythe – $14 million
Infrastructure projects – Augusta Engineering and Utilities
- Grading and drainage – $25 million
- Road resurfacing – $20 million
- Willis Foreman Road – $5 million
- East Augusta drainage phases 6-7 – $6 million
- Canal bulkhead gates – $12 million
- Water and sewer work for Engineering projects – $6 million
Projects for government authorities
- Economic Development Authority – $25 million to run industrial sewer service to the 1,150-acre McCombs Road mega-site
- Augusta Canal Authority – $1 million to complete the pedestrian bridge behind Bass Pro Shops. The project received $500,000 in state funds
- Downtown Development Authority – $1 million for “special projects”
- Augusta University – $5 million already committed to the downtown medical research facility
Notable unfunded projects
Many of the $1 billion-plus in projects are worthy but unaffordable due to funding limits, Allen said. These projects included the following:
- Expansion of the Augusta Convention Center
- A second jail pod
- A third fire station and fire apparatus
- A new Richmond County Correctional Institute
- Airport hangar construction
- Housing and Community Development projects – included $12 million for a “homeless institute” and $34.5 million to build affordable housing
- A new transit transfer station on Broad Street
- Augusta Canal Authority’s proposed whitewater park
