Oconee County is expecting to collect $20 million more than budgeted when it asked voters to approve the current Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) in November of 2020, and commissioners at their strategic planning meeting on Wednesday discussed how to allocate the funds.
At the top of the list is a plan to pay off the General Obligation Bond voters approved in 2002 for purchase of land and development of what is now Oconee Veterans Park.
The expected new money also will allow the county to greatly increase spending on its parks, including on the planned Wendell and Betty Dawson Park on Rocky Branch Road at the current Land Application System site.
At the meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 29), the Board gave tentative approval to a schedule for renewal of SPLOST in the Spring of 2026 and renewal of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in Fall of that same year.
The Board also discussed asking voters to approve another General Obligation Bond to allow it to be able to more aggressively build out the Dawson Park plans.
The Board approved plans for the initial phase of Dawson Park, made it clear it has no interest in opting out of the statewide floating homestead exemption, and agreed to continue discussion of self funding insurance for county employees.
Board Chair John Daniell also told the Board that the Georgia Bureau Of Investigation will be joining with the Georgia Department of Driver Services and the Georgia State Patrol in a planned three-building complex at McNutt Creek Road just south of SR 316.
In an update on transportation projects in the county, Daniell said construction of the SR 316 interchanges at Jimmy Daniell Road, Virgil Langford Road, the Oconee Connector, and Dials Mill Extension is to start this year, while construction at the McNutt Creek Road interchange is scheduled for 2027.
Daniell also said that the four-laning of U.S. 441 from the Morgan County line to Bishop is scheduled for 2028, construction of a SR 15 bypass of Watkinsville is scheduled for between 2028 to 2051, and the date for construction of a U.S. 441 Bypass of Bishop is yet to be determined.
At this point, Daniell said, plans for construction of an extension of Bishop Farms Parkway to connect Experiment Station Road and New High Shoals Road are no longer being considered.
SPLOST Update
The strategic planning meeting got underway at 9 a.m. on Wednesday in the community center at Oconee Veterans Park and ended two and a half hours later.
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Kirouac 1/29/2025 |
Daniell turned to discussion of the 2021 SPLOST, which runs until 2027, late in the meeting, saying “Alright, here comes the fun part.”
The original SPLOST asked voters to approve projects totally $64.6 million, Daniell said, with $8.9 allocated to the county’s four cities and $55.7 set aside for county projects.
The strategy is to ask for more than what actually will be collected, and Daniell said “What we really were expecting to collect was $7.1 for the cities (and $44.6 for the county) for a total of $51.7 million.”
Estimated collections with 3 percent growth in the remaining years of the SPLOST is $72 million, he said.
“So not only do we have more than the original referendum,” Daniell said, “We have a lot more than we had budgeted for projects.”
“That is with a significant amount coming from Costco,” he said. “I would never have imagined this amount of money from one single retailer. It has been amazing to watch.”
Discussion Starter
Daniell said he is proposing that the county pay off the remaining $5,620,000 in principal from the original $11.8 million bond sold for Oconee Veterans Park. The bond is not scheduled to be paid off until 2033.
Daniell proposed adding $2 million to the allocation to Water Resources for some system upgrades and $1.5 million to Public Works for road project.
The original SPLOST had allocated $5 million for Broadband, but the county has only spent $200,000 of that and won’t need to spend more because of the county’s agreement with Charter and federal American Rescue Plan Act monies that came to the county.
The original SPLOST budget was for $2.7 million for parks and recreation, which included $1.1 million for the addition of eight tennis courts and a new exit at $1.5 million.
Through negotiations during rezoning, the costs of that exit will be born by a developer, Daniell said.
At present, $4.3 million is set aside for tennis courts, and $12 million for construction of Dawson Park.
Daniell said the county also has been putting money aside in its Capital Fund, and that includes $4 million for the conversion phase of Dawson Park and $10 million for a new Field Services Building to replace the current one in the Watkinsville Industrial Park.
The Capital Fund also includes $3 million for upgrades at Heritage Park.
Dawson Park
Earlier in the meeting, the Board reviewed three different proposals for the first phase of construction at Dawson Park.
County Administrator Justin Kirouac said that Lose Design has worked with the original Master Plan developed for the park to offer three options for consideration.
“We're orienting toward $15 million of initial capital toward phase one,” he said, with total costs for the full project approximately $88 million.
The number one priority is field space, he said, and Option A has four fields, a bank of parking, a restroom, storage facility, pavilion, and a walking trail around the facility. The cost is $16.15 million.
None of the proposals include the two gymnasiums, which are estimated to cost $17.6 million for one and $18.0 million for the second.
They also do not include the county services/maintenance facility, estimated to cost $13.5 million, or the road construction costs.
Option B, rather than include the walking trail, adds two additional lacrosse fields. The cost is $15.95 million.
Option C includes eight rectangular fields and two full parking areas, at a cost of $18.35 million.
“Our goal is to do everything at some point over a future time horizon,” Kirouac said.
The LAS site won’t be decommissioned until December of this year, he added.
The Board gave tentative approval to Option B.
Voters could be asked to approve a new bond sale to increase the speed of development of the park, Daniell said.
Road Projects
Daniell provided an overview of road projects funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in Oconee County as well as those funded in partnership with GDOT and those locally funded.
The only one of the GDOT projects already funded is for the upgrades to the intersections at Jimmy Daniell Road, Virgil Langford Road, and the Oconee Connector.
In November GDOT awarded a $139.4 million contact with Archer Western Construction LLC and Heath & Lineback Engineering Inc. for that work. Construction is to begin late this year.
Construction of the full interchange at a reconfigured Dials Mill Extension also is scheduled for construction this year.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027 for the McNutt Road intersection with SR 316.
The county donated 13.4 acres south of SR 316 to the state for construction of replacement facility for the Department of Driver Services in February of 2024.
GBI Is Coming
The state now has added the State Patrol and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to its plans for the site, and Daniell said "there was a little internal conflict on how that was going to get divided up.”
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Daniell 1/29/2025 Commissioners Mark Thomas (Back To Camera) Chuck Horton (Right) |
“So that's project's been turned over to the State Building Authority. And they're working on design parameters,” he said. “So it'll be three separate buildings in that area.”
State Rep. Houston Gaines, who represents part of Oconee County in the General Assembly, said in his newsletter that he sent out on Feb. 1 that an additional $14.6 million is in Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed budget “to complete construction on the public safety complex” in Oconee County.
At present, the intersection is scheduled to be a right-in, right-out design.
Daniell said that the Mars Hill Road intersection with SR 316 will be redesigned as a cul-de-sac, with construction in 2030.
The design for the Julian Drive intersection has not yet been determined, he said, and construction also is listed for 2030.
Work on the design of the SR 15 bypass of Watkinsville was scheduled for last year, Daniell said, with right of way acquisition scheduled for 2026 and actual construction listed as between 2028 and 2051.
A redesign of the intersection of U.S. 441 and Experiment Station Road is listed for construction in 2051, Daniell said, and improvements in Experiment Station Road from the U.S. 441 intersection to Main Street in Watkinsville has no listed construction date.
Construction of the Snows Mill Road/Rocky Branch Road roundabout at Hog Mountain Road is scheduled for this year, followed by construction of a roundabout at Malcom Bridge Road/Ray’s Church Road and Hog Mountain Road, Daniell said.
Daniell said the Bishop Farm Parkway extension is on hold, and any future plan most likely will be changed to avoid damage to the headwater of Calls Creek.
Multi-Use Paths
County Administrator Kirouac updated the Board on the construction of the first leg of a multi-use trail system that is designed to connect the county’s parks and schools, residential area, and commercial nodes.
The first phase is a 2.08 mile link from Butler’s Crossing along Hog Mountain Road to U.S. 441.
“They're actually moving very well on it,” Kirouac said. “The next segment, if you go down the prioritization list, would be from Dawson Park to Oconee High School, which would be 3.39 miles.”
“Initial feedback,” Kirouac said, “has been rather negative on the Hog Mountain Trail. There's been intermittent traffic delays during construction.”
“It's not apparently obvious that this is part of a bigger network,” he said. “The old, sidewalk to nowhere concept.”
“Do we wish to continue to program these or pause these for a moment?” Kirouac asked.
“I will say that 90 percent of all the feedback I got has been negative, and all I can say is message received,” Daniell said. “John Daniel’ ain't interested in another trail for a while.”
Commissioner Amrey Harden suggested that the priority be changed to complete the planned segment of the multi-use trail down Daniells Bridge Road to better connect neithborhoods and create a full loop involving the existing bike lanes and sidewalks on Mars Hill Road.
“I do agree with Amrey that Daniell's Bridge, in my mind, would be the next,” Daniell said.
Floating Homestead Exemption
Daniell launched the meeting with a discussion of current homestead exemptions and the statewide floating homestead exemption approved by voters in November.
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Daniell 1/29/2025 |
That statewide exemption will have no effect on the exemptions voters approved for Oconee County in May, Daniell said.
State legislators approved House Bill 581 in March implementing the floating exemption on the condition voters approved the Constitutional Amendment in November.
Under House Bill 581, the taxable part of increased assessments of homesteaded property that has not been improved will be limited by the inflation rate, with any increase in assessment beyond the inflation rate exempted from taxation.
Taxing authorities that wish to opt out of the exemption have until March 1 to do so.
Daniell said the legislators were responding to complaints from citizens about the effects of increased property tax assessments on their property taxes.
“Throughout the state, there's a lot of local government authorities that were kind of deaf to taxpayers comments on that type of thing,” he said.
“I don't think we should opt out,” Daniell said. “We need a little direction from everybody on whether we need to start that process or not. In order to stay in, we have to do nothing.”
Daniell went around the room, and all commissioners said they did not want to opt out.
The Oconee County Board of Education has stated its intent to opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption and will make a final decision at its 6 p.m. meeting on Monday (Feb. 3).
Self-Insurance, SPLOST, TSPLOST Schedule
At the end of the meeting, Daniell asked the Board if it was interested in considering again his proposal that the county explore the option of self-insuring its employees.
Daniell had proposed this at the end of last year, but the Board was not ready to go along with the plan.
“I'll say I muffed up the last presentation we did,” Daniell said. “So I want to kind of step back and see where we're headed.”
All of the commissioners said they were willing to reconsider the self-insurance option.
Collection on the 1 percent SPLOST ends at the end of 2027, and collection on the one percent TSPLOST will end on March 31 of that same year, Daniell told the Board.
“So that's one of the things we'll be bringing to you is when to get started on that,” he said.
Daniell said votes in 2026 for both tax renewals would give the Board the chance to ask voters again a year later before the taxes expire if either should fail.
Video
The video below is of the entire meeting of the strategic planning session on Jan. 29. I turned the camera off during a brief break at 1:19:49 in the video.
Discussion of the floating homestead exemption begins at 0:42 in the video.
Discussion of the Dawson Park begins at 38:20 in the video.
Discussion of Multi-Use Paths begins at 1:05:11 in the video.
Discussion of transportation projects begins at 1:19:52 in the video.
Daniell began discussing SPLOST at 1:36:37 in the video.
Discussion of self funding of insurance is at 2:01:05 in the video.
3 comments:
Thank you Lee for your efforts to keep us informed.
Thanks Lee. As usual excellent coverage of the meeting; your diligence in keeping us informed is greatly appreciated.
Isn't it expected that public feedback during construction phase would be mostly negative? Drivers are inconvenienced and no one can use the new path yet. If the plan was based on input and planning, why change course so quickly? Seems like a lack of commitment.
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