The penny may be going away, but the one-penny sales tax is not.
Augusta officials resumed the process Tuesday of developing a list of capital projects to fund using special purpose, local option sales tax 9, or SPLOST 9. Renewing the 1% tax will go before voters Nov. 4 if the city meets an upcoming deadline.
City departments and other entities have requested in excess of $1 billion in projects. But the final list needs to comprise around $375 million in projects, Administrator Tameka Allen said.
SPLOST 9 collections will begin in late 2026, after SPLOST 8 collections reach their target, Allen said.
Officials with the city’s Central Services and Recreation and Parks departments presented their project lists Tuesday, while the remainder of requests will be presented June 26-27, she said.
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Central Services, responsible for maintenance of the city’s buildings and fleet, presented a list that included several projects the city was unable to complete using SPLOST 8. Some of the projects were modified in scope and reduced in cost, interim Director Ron Lamkin said. The list included the following:
- $15 million for upgrades to Augusta’s two fleet maintenance facilities
- $15 million to convert the former Craig Houghton School to a juvenile court building
- $10 million for on-call facilities capital work
- $3 million for Jones Pool
- $6 million to expand the Richmond County Coroner’s Office
- $5 million for Augusta Animal Services
- $1 million to continue the city’s riverfront zipline project
- $2 million to purchase an office building to house Recreation and other workers
- $1 million to design a parking garage to serve Augusta Municipal Building
- $12 million to expand the Augusta Convention Center
- $3 million to design a new Augusta marina and build boat slips
- $16 million to replace about half of the city’s public safety fleet over seven years
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Recreation and Parks asked for each of its requests to be spread over five years, said Abie Ladson, whose firm Infrastructure Systems Management is a consultant for the department. The projects included:
- $25 million to revitalize parks and facilities
- $4.7 million for basketball, tennis and pickleball courts
- $15 million for park enhancements, primarily grounds
- $6.4 million for playground equipment
- $20 million for Diamond Lakes Regional Park
- $10.5 million for pools, including Jones, Brigham and Fleming pools plus two new splash pads
- $4.9 million for upgrades to the Fifth Street Marina
- $11 million for the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam
- $8.6 million to upgrade the Augusta Soccer Park
- $23 million to build a state veterans cemetery near the Gracewood campus
Ladson and Recreation Director Tameka Williams then presented two modified lists. Option 2 was a $51 million list that included only improvements to existing facilities. Option 3 included all the projects but spread them over three SPLOSTs.
Commissioners had a number of questions and noted the absence of key facilities such as the Riverwalk, May Park, the Boathouse, existing city cemeteries and a water park, for which SPLOST 8 included $5 million in seed money. They also questioned where parks the city plans to divest or sell fit in. Ladson has come up with a list but says the city needs usage data from cameras installed at the facilities.
The veterans cemetery project commanded attention from Commissioner Don Clark, who worked on an effort to bring one here for several years with former Mayor Bob Young.
The two veterans pushed for the cemetery to serve the area’s 70,000-plus veterans, but the project lacked federal support due to its proximity to other veteran cemeteries.
Clark and Young proposed last year for the effort to garner $13 million from SPLOST 9 for construction.
