We must take steps to win back trust of Georgia's voters
Since the July 31 defeat of the TSPLOST tax increase for transportation in 10 of the 12 regions of Georgia — including our own Three Rivers region and the Atlanta Regional Commission region — there has been talk about what’s next.The message from voters was loud and clear against a sales tax increase even though new streams of revenue are needed to meet the transportation needs.
A major reason people said no to TSPLOST was a distrust for government and concerns about the efficiency in using existing revenues.
We think our state must address this trust issue before asking citizens to agree to additional transportation funding.
If the governor and General Assembly are going to seek new transportation revenue, we firmly believe they need to address these trust issues first. Let’s do a comprehensive study of GDOT and other transportation agencies. We need to do that now to win back the support and the trust of the citizens of Georgia.
