Council Hosts Fulton County COO Todd Long at North Fulton Advisory

The North Fulton Advisory Committee hosted Fulton County COO Todd Long on Friday, May 13th. Long gave an update on the Fulton County TSPLOST effort that came out of Senate Bill 369.

Long provided a thorough overview of the TSPLOST voters may approve in Fulton County outside the City of Atlanta and within the City of Atlanta. Outside the the City of Atlanta in North and South Fulton County voters may approve a .75% TSPLOST that is expected to raise $500-600 Million over 5 years, while the City of Atlanta may approve a .5% TSPLOST expected to raise $280-300 Million as well as .5% for MARTA which would raise $60-65 Million per year.

Long also discussed how the new tax will be collected, and what items will be exempt from the tax, such as the sale of motor vehicle fuel. The funds raised will be collected and spent by the local municipalities per their approved project list which must be complete by the end of this month. Eligible transportation improvement projects include right of way acquisition, road construction and repaving, utility relocation and stormwater improvements. See the full list of eligible projects in his presentation.

the project lists for each of the 15 jurisdictions is due on May 30th with the County-wide list made available by June 15th. Each Jurisdiction must then sign an intergovernemental agreement in a formal meeting the first week of July. Voters in Fulton County will then have the opportunity to vote to approve the .75% TSPLOST in the general election on November 8th. The referendum will only be considered if qualified municipalities and county representing 60% of the population of the portion of Fulton outside the City of Atlanta agree to move forward. The referendum will then be signed by the Fulton Board of Commissioners unlessa super majority (5 votes) of the Board of Commissioners vote NOT to move the referendum forward. In the case of City of Atlanta, Fulton County Board still signs the resolution since they have more of City in regards to geographic area than DeKalb County.

The ballot question will appear as follows:

SAMPLE BALLOT: Shall an additional 0.75 percent sales tax be collected in part of FULTON County OUTSIDE OF THE CITY OF ATLANTA for FIVE years for the purpose of transportation improvements and congestion reduction?

The North Fulton Advisory committee discussed what a huge impact this TSPLOST would have on addressing traffic throughout the County and region-wide if passed, in conjunction with the monies made available through HB 170 (Transportation Funding Act of 2015). The Council thanks COO Todd Long for his presentation on the progress of the TSPLOST and will support the County’s efforts to educate North Fulton voters on the benefits of investing in transportation and congestion relief. Special thanks to Lowe Engineers for sponsoring this meeting.