The Augusta Canal and Augusta Regional Airport also stand to benefit from the city’s ninth special purpose local option sales tax.
The Augusta Commission is in the midst of whittling down some $1 billion in department and elected official requests for SPLOST 9 funds. The goal is to meet a fast-approaching deadline to put the new tax on the Nov. 4 ballot.
A commission work session last week highlighted some $200 million in public safety requests, including a $115 million jail wing. But other departments say they have needs that could be met by SPLOST as well.
Augusta Utilities Director Wes Byne presented a request for $12 million each for two projects. The first is for “canal drainage control improvements” which he said is the replacement of the bulkhead gate by Lake Olmstead.
Built in 1939, the wood and concrete structure serves as a bridge over the canal and contains 24 original steel gates, which Utilities operates to reduce the risk of flooding downtown, Byne said.
Maintaining the structure is required for the canal to obtain its pending Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, he said.
Replacing the structure will require draining the canal and using a crane to bring in new gates, he said.
The department previously tried to do the project using bonds but this way will “share some of the cost with the SPLOST, rather than it coming straight from ratepayers,” he said.
The second project would channel about $2.5 million from SPLOST 9 per year for Utilities to perform water and sewer infrastructure work encountered during ongoing Transportation Investment Act sales tax projects, he said.
Augusta Regional Airport is requesting about $26 million from SPLOST 9 to fund construction of two hangars and the expansion of pavement in the airport’s “business area,” Airport Director Herbert Judon said.
The projects aren’t the type funded by FAA or other grants that support many airport projects, Judon said.
Both would serve to “enhance the business posture” of the airport and increase aeronautical opportunities there, he said.
