Lee County prepares for SPLOST VII

LEESBURG — Lee County officials held a special meeting recently to talk about anticipated SPLOST funds and how that money could potentially be spent.

SPLOST funding is derived from a 1 percent special-purpose local-option sales tax that must be adopted by the Board of County Commissioners as a referendum and approved by county voters. A specific timeline and prescribed steps must be followed before bringing the matter to a public vote.

Officials in the municipalities that are located within the county are invited to meet with county commissioners to discuss SPLOST projects. The meeting must take place at least 30 days prior to the special SPLOST election. During that time period, the County Commission must adopt a resolution calling for imposition of the SPLOST. The resolution must include a list and estimated cost of each SPLOST project.

Under a projected six-year budget for anticipated SPLOST VII funds, Lee officials came up with 11 priority spending areas:

— Public Safety capital projects and equipment at an estimated cost of $5,230,447;

— Courthouse security, renovations and records at an estimated cost of $250,000;

— Water and sewer systems projects at an estimated cost of $750,000;

— Roads, streets and bridges at an estimated cost of $4,535,053;

— Library projects at an anticipated cost of $250,000;

— 911 back-up center at an estimated cost of $500,000;

— Stormwater projects at an estimated cost of $500,000;

— Public Works renovations and equipment at an estimated cost of $1,070,884;

— Public facilities renovations at an estimated cost of $1,000,000;

— Recreation projects at an estimated cost of $3,186,000;

— Information technology projects at an estimated cost of $1,000,000.

Total SPLOST VII projections amount to $20,825,603. Within that projected amount, $2,130,459, or 10.23 percent, is expected to be allocated to the city of Leesburg and $422,760, or 2.03, percent is expected to be set aside for the city of Smithville. The remaining $18,272,384 is expected to be designated for the county.

Lee County Co-Manager Christi Dockery said the purpose of the special meeting held last week was to discuss the development of an intergovernmental agreement between the municipalities of Smithville and Leesburg and the Lee County Commission regarding the upcoming SPLOST VII funds and how those anticipated funds will be spent.

“We have a lot of projects that we are very excited about,” Dockery said.

During a previous SPLOST meeting held in November, commissioners discussed in greater detail the specifics of those top-priority spending areas. For example, more than half of the estimated $4,535,053 to be spent on roads, streets and bridges would potentially go to resurfacing six roads in Lee County.

Among the roads listed for resurfacing are Airport Road from Edwards Road to the county line at an estimated cost of $498,000; Doublegate Drive North from Martindale Drive to the county line at a cost of $70,000; Glendale Road from U.S. Highway 19 to Creekside Road at a cost of $83,000; Ledo Road from U.S. Highway 82 to Palmyra Road at a cost of $375,000; Lumpkin Road from Smithville Road to U.S. 19 at a cost of $90,000; New York Road from State Highway 195 to Larson Road at a cost of $1,700,000. If all six roads are resurfaced, the cost would be approximately $2,816,000.

County Co-Manager Mike Sistrunk said the road cost estimates are based on $110,000 for each mile resurfaced.

Commissioners have suggested it will take at least four years to complete all of the proposed road resurfacing projects, and there tends to be some disagreement over which roads might get first attention.

“Clearly, we can’t do all of the roads at once; it will take time to do them all,” Commissioner Billy Mathis said.

As for Public Safety funding, commissioners have previously said they are looking to purchase up to three new firetrucks. The proposed 911 emergency call back-up center also is a priority item. Lee officials have also discussed the possibility of purchasing a mobile backup unit that could travel throughout the county as needed during emergencies.

Now that the board has agreed to purchase the 100-acre tract of land near the Leesburg Bypass, a significant chunk of the upcoming SPLOST funds will be used for recreation and the development of the proposed recreation complex. Commissioners say they expect to devote at least $3,186,000 in preparing that property for public recreation use.

Among those expenses, officials anticipate spending $25,000 for program and design; $1,250,000 for grading, paving, site utilities and other site work; $1,500,000 as a rough estimate for four football fields, and another $186,000 needed for equipment to maintain the property.