COVINGTON, Ga. — New parks and recreation facilities and renovation of a historic school building were added to a list of 2023 SPLOST projects before Newton County commissioners gave their approval Tuesday.
At Chairman Marcello Banes' urging, the Newton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, July 12, to approve the list of projects the county is required to tell voters will be funded from proceeds of the 1% sales tax collected from 2023 to 2029.
County attorney Aaron Meyer said the Board must approve its project list, complete negotiations with six cities over the split of SPLOST proceeds and approve an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the cities by Tuesday, July 19, to place it on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Interim County Manager Jarvis Sims said he made the revisions to a list of recommended projects commissioners were given at a July 6 work session after hearing from them.
He said he worked to fulfill as many requests from commissioners as possible with the expected funding, while also keeping most recommendations the Board received from the SPLOST advisory committee.
The county government will share an estimated $108 million collected from SPLOST over six years with the five cities in Newton.
More than a third of an estimated $86.4 million the county government will receive is planned for road improvements and resurfacing.
Almost $21 million is planned for roadwork — including a widening of Brown Bridge Road — and $8.3 million for resurfacing roads countywide.
Officials have said the road paving and construction funds could be used to seek even larger state and federal grants that require local matching funds.
Some top expenditures left on the final list from the July 6 list included:
• $10 million for debt service;
• $4.65 million for county Fire Services improvements;
• $4.5 million for improvements at existing parks and walking trails countywide;
• $1.07 million for expansion of the Animal Services facility on Lower River Road;
• $900,000 for the library system.
The top changes made to the July 6 list included the addition of:
• $8 million for renovations to the historic R.L. Cousins High School building on Geiger Street;
• $12 million for construction of four new recreation facilities, including a new "community waterpark," an enrichment center for the county Senior Services department, and parks in both southwest Newton and commission District 5, which covers northeast Newton.
However, to compensate for the new projects, planned funding was slashed or cut altogether for some major items on the July 6 list.
Commissioners approved cutting the advisory committee's recommended $12 million for public safety vehicle replacements to $8.4 million.
They also eliminated all recommended SPLOST funding for reutilization of the county Administration Building and a new centralized storage and maintenance facility.
Board members also approved only $3 million for a planned Westside Community Park rather than the advisory committee's recommended funding of $10.2 million.
Commissioner Alana Sanders — whose District 3 advisory committee representative worked for inclusion of the higher amount — asked Sims for "clarification" on why the funding for the planned park was reduced by two-thirds.
Sanders has repeatedly called for development of a park in her northwest Newton district because it lacked public recreation facilities.
She also asked for the location of the planned community waterpark — a project District 2 Commissioner Demond Mason had requested as a larger facility containing a swimming pool July 6.
Sanders said $3 million would not be an adequate amount to equip a park when it does not yet have a site and the cost of land may require much of the available money.
"Are we just going to give the citizens whatever? I'm pretty sure the citizens who are going to be voting on this will want to know what's in that park," Sanders said.
"Three million (dollars) in 2022 — buying land and everything else — that is not enough money with inflation and costs."
County special projects consultant Jeff Prine had previously said that land and design costs and a first phase of a Westside Community Park that included a building of some kind could be covered with $10.27 million.
Sims said Prine told him $3 million would pay for a first phase that could be enlarged as more funding becomes available. Prine did not attend the meeting.
Mason said funding listed for most projects on the list would only pay for a portion of those projects.
Sanders said she wanted to know the location of the waterpark because west Newton residents would not utilize it if "we're placing it where they can't get to."
However, District 5 Commissioner Ronnie Cowan told Sanders that any potential locations of public buildings should be discussed in closed meetings allowed by state law so landowners would not significantly increase prices if a preferred location is made public.
Banes said he did not favor the waterpark being reserved for a specific district but a location in west Newton would make it more accessible to those residents unwilling to travel to the YMCA in Covington.
He noted 2017 SPLOST collections that exceeded the estimated amount already had been dedicated to a separate project identified as a Westside Youth Facility. The same dedication of "overage" funds from a 2023 SPLOST could be approved for future phases of a Westside Community Park, Banes said.
"I want you to understand that — I agree with you (that) District 3 needs a park," Banes told Sanders. "But you've got the rest of your Board members up here that are asking for stuff."
He said future sites for other planned facilities on the list could be found in any location in the area based on such unknown factors as availability and cost.
"Who's to say that the Senior Services (enrichment center) won't fall in District 3? Who's to say that the (waterpark) won't fall in District 3? We don't know," Banes said. "We're trying to get the funds so we can go out to find out."
