Residents show up to support SPLOST
A skate park, a boathouse and sewer improvements in Cave Spring are among the projects presented Thursday.
Several of the projects presented to the Citizens SPLOST Advisory Committee Thursday night came with a core group of supporters.
The panel is meeting weekly to vet projects for a package expected to go before voters in November. If approved, funding would be through a 1-cent special purpose, local-option sales tax extension that would start April 1, 2019.
Seven people — most in their 20s — showed up for a proposal to upgrade the skate park at Etowah Park. The $150,000 project is part of an estimated $2.1 million in improvements Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Cowling has on his wish list.
“A lot of the focus is in bolstering and improving what we have,” he told the committee.
Members spent some time quizzing the skateboarders on the benefits of the park, and Chairman David Newby complimented them on their knowledge.
“It’s good to have young people here and see how passionate they are about an aspect of their community,” he said.
Newby also warned the boosters that about $170 million worth of applications would have to be narrowed to about $60 million. He asked if they were willing to work for passage of the SPLOST and was met with a chorus of yeses.
He got the same answer from a group of about 15 backing a proposed
$2.6 million expansion of the Rome-Floyd ECO Center and construction of a community boathouse and river park on the Coosa in South Rome.
And about 20 came up from Cave Spring to support a $2.7 million fix for the city’s failing sewer system.
Resident David Bailey said there are overflows with every rain and a large section of his yard gets seepage.
“It becomes an open sewer until you have a long dry spell. You can’t cut the grass, you can’t do anything,” he said.
Among the other projects presented to the committee were an $825,000 replacement of the turf and scoreboard at Barron Stadium, along with remodeling the press box. Ann Hortman, director of the Rome Sports Commission, said events at the stadium have a major economic impact.
“Visitors to our community are temporary taxpayers,” she said. “They come here, they leave their money and they go home.”
Rome Water and Sewer Director Mike Hackett is also asking for an $8.7 million earmark to improve the system on several fronts and Floyd County Public Works Director Michael Skeen is seeking $10 million to complete the widening of Huffaker Road.