Politics & Government

Gov. Deal Backs Transportation Sales Tax

Georgia's governor supports the idea of getting all transportation decisions moved from the GDOT Board in favor of regional decisions and cooperation.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal made a campaign visit before several hundred North Fulton business leaders, but it wasn't for himself or another political candidate. His visit was to gain support for the regional transportation sales tax (TSPLOST) to go before voters on July 31.

Deal was the guest speaker at the Eggs & Enterprise Breakfast, held Tuesday, May 22 at the in Johns Creek.

The Governor said transportation was important to attract companies to the state. He said transportation issues were important in landing Baxter Pharmaceutical and Caterpillar. Baxter picked a site that has easy access to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, while Caterpillar needs access to a port because it plans to export 40 percent of the "smaller" products it makes. The Governor plans for that to be the Port of Savannah, and he said dredging plans to make the port accessible are moving forward.

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Andy Macke of Comcast, a chamber board member, asked about progress in the Tri-State "Water Wars." Deal said negotiations are progressing. Each state has a relatively new governor, and all are Republicans. Any solution will have to include Georgia having more holding capacity for water in the state, Deal said. That was why he pushed through $300 million to get started on identifying where those reservoirs would be, and to start designing them.

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