‘Coming to the end of the tunnel’
♦ Officials update committee members on 2013 SPLOST projects.
Work on the Mount Berry Trail and a back entrance for the Chulio Hills subdivision is expected to get underway by the fall.
Other projects funded through the 2013 special purpose, local option sales tax — such as improvements to Barron and Calhoun roads — have long been complete. And a few of the projects in the $64.9 million package are just edging up to the starting gate.
“It seems like we’ve been working on the 2013 SPLOST for a lifetime … but we’re coming to the end of the tunnel,” Rome City Manager Sammy Rich told members of the SPLOST Citizens Advisory Committee at a quarterly update last week.
David Newby, who chaired the 2013 and 2017 committees, reminded the groups that Rome and Floyd County did not issue bonds to get an early start on construction.
“With the
2013 package we paid as we went
— as we collected the revenue — so that drew the projects out,” Newby explained.
“And for the
2017 package, we won’t be collecting anything until April 2019.”
Collections for the 2013 package run through March 31, 2019. County Manager Jamie McCord said revenue has been erratic over the past six months, but it’s about $1.7 million ahead of projections.
However, he cautioned that a bad month or a stateordered refund could still skew the budgets.
Meanwhile, several projects are coming to fruition. Rich said construction bids are due July 19 on the Honeysuckle Ridge improvements in Chulio Hills, an $800,000 earmark.
“It’s a small project, but it was very complicated in terms of engineering,” he said.
Approximately 75 percent of the right-of-way has been acquired and the work is expected to take six months to complete.
The 2013 package also contains $1.8 million for trail connectivity.
Berry College recently approved an easement for the Mount Berry Trail linking the campus to the city’s network. Construction could be done before the end of the year. It will be late summer, however, before railroad right-of-way for the Redmond Trail extension is under city control, Rich said.
McCord said the $5.8 million water line extension to Everett Springs will be “substantially complete” by October and about 100 new customers are already being served by a gravity feed. Work is also finishing up on the $1.3 million recycling center project that is slated to open
in the former Zartic plant on Lavender Drive.
“For the first time, we’re going to have room to process everything that comes in the door,” McCord said. “Within the next six months, everything will be inside. No outside storage.”
There’s also a plan now to use the $2.2 million earmark for a medical and mental health facility at the Floyd County Jail. The 2017 SPLOST contains another $5.2 million to complete the project.
McCord said consultants Peacock Partnership has drawn up a design that will provide 60 beds, up from the current four, and set a timeline. Plans are to do a small outside section first, so the inmates can still be served when the major construction gets underway.
“The thing about jail medical is that you can’t move them out,” McCord said. “You’ve got to manage what’s inside the building while you’re managing the outside.”
Among the 2013 SPLOST projects that have been completed are the $11.4 million Tennis Center at Berry College, $1 million in countywide sewer improvements, the $2.7 million widening of Burnett Ferry Road, $1.4 million in upgrades at the Forum River Center and $1.7 million in energy efficiency improvements in county buildings.
McCord said the RomeFloyd County Library alone saw its utility bill drop $23,000 in the first year.