Pickleball, a swimming pool, flooding and public safety – those are the issues a small number of citizens of Columbia County said they want sales tax revenues to pay for.
That was the message received during the county’s first Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) town hall meeting Monday night at Martinez Elementary School on Flowing Wells Road near Columbia Road.
MORE: Blasting scheduled along Furys Ferry Road Wednesday and Thursday
County employees handed out surveys and will use those, as well as projects approved by the county commissioners, to come up with a list of top projects to present to voters on the November ballot. If approved, Columbia County’s sales tax would remain at 8%. If rejected, the sales tax would drop to 7%, and the county would receive an estimated $40 million less in tax revenue, said Scott Johnson, Columbia County’s manager.
Darra Ballance had the toughest sell – she wants the one-percent tax to be spent on an indoor aquatic center so her son Alex Ballance, 14, can practice closer to their Evans home. Currently, Darra Ballance spends an hour a day, five days a week, driving her son to and from the indoor pool in Richmond County. She also spoke about how it can be used to teach swimming and attract regional swim meets.
“I came out to make sure it was on the list or to add it if it wasn’t on the list,” Darra Ballance said.
Gary Richardson, the only commissioner in attendance Monday night, listened to Ballance. But he said in 2010 Columbia County voters rejected an indoor aquatic center. And this year, if enough swimming enthusiasts show up to the censing meetings and fill out enough surveys to get the aquatic center on the SPLOST list, commissioners are likely to break it off from the rest of the SPLOST projects and let voters again decide two issues – approve or reject the one-cent SPLOST sales tax for a long list of projects and approve or reject an aquatic center as a stand-alone ballot issue.
MORE: Millions of meals provided for Georgians from the annual Legal Food Frenzy
“If a majority of people are against the aquatic center, let’s not let it kill a whole list of projects,” Richardson said.
Kathy and Eric McCorkle, of Evans, showed up in matching neon-green T-shirts with “Pickleball Lovin’ Life” on the front. They want public pickleball courts. Currently residents can play pickleball at the Patriots Park indoor basketball courts but need a membership to play. There is one free public court in the county at the new park at Lakeside High School in Martinez, but the net is the height for tennis, not pickleball, the McCorkles said.
Pickleball is similar to tennis, but players are closer to the net and they use a whiffle ball and smaller rackets. The net is two inches lower than a tennis net.
“The pickleball community here is exploding,” Kathy McCorkle said.
Angela Kennedy showed up to advocate for public safety spending. Her son is a Columbia County firefighter and her husband, Glenn Kennedy, is the deputy county manager.
“I would like to see us invest more as a county in upgrading the fire stations, taking care of the vehicles, bringing on new fire engines and getting them that training facility,” Kennedy said. “They are my top votes in the survey.”
She suspects most voters will agree.
“If it’s your house burning, you really want it,” she said.
Joshua B. Good is a staff reporter covering Columbia County and military/veterans’ issues for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joshua@theaugustapress.com
