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Politics & Government

Speaker Advocates Transportation Tax at Friday's Business Expo

Paul Bennecke, of Citizens for Transportation Mobility, talked up this summer's transportation tax referendum during the Eggs and Enterprise Breakfast on Friday at Alpharetta's Marriott Hotel.

Both fans and foes of this summer’s referendum to support transportation projects have wondered where the advocates have been.

At Friday morning’s Business Expo Eggs & Enterprise Breakfast meeting in Alpharetta, they showed up. Advocates of the penny sales tax to support transportation showed a first television commercial, which aired the same day.

The 30-second commercial simply reminds viewers of the region’s commuter congestion problem.

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Paul Bennecke, chief consultant for Citizens for Transportation Mobility, aired the commercial and spent an hour outlining the region’s problems and how the transportation sales tax might help.

“We have a crisis,” Bennecke explained. The sales tax “will be a jump-start to get us to do something about our congestion problem.”

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On July 31, voters in the 10-county Greater Atlanta region will have the chance to vote on TSPLOST. It’s the Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax. If passed, it would raise sales tax by one percentage point in the region for 10 years. All the money – about $8.1 billion - would go for transportation projects and only in the 10 county area. The projects were identified by the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. They can be found at www.TransformMetroAtlanta.com.

Additionally, 15 percent of the total will go to municipalities for transportation.

“You know exactly what you are getting with this,” Bennecke said.

Bennecke told the 100 or so gathered at the Marriott that Georgia is the third fastest growing state in the U.S., but is 48th in per-capita spending on transportation.

He noted how cities like Charlotte, Tampa, Orlando and Nashville are using Atlanta’s traffic congestion problems to lure businesses to their cities and away from Atlanta.

“I’m getting tired of getting beaten up on the congestion issue,” North Fulton Chamber of Commerce president Brandon Beach said, in introducing Bennecke. “We have a plan to get out of this problem if we pass this.”

Citizens for Transportation Mobility, which is the TSPLOST advocacy group, will begin strenuously pressing the message in May, Bennecke explained.

He said that polling suggests 35 percent of those in the area are for the special tax, 35 percent are against and 30 percent are undecided. The special tax will be the only referendum on the ballot that day.

Economic vitality and jobs, as well as quality of life, will be improved if voters pass the tax, he said.

“There isn’t a legislator under the gold dome who will (directly address and solve transportation underfunding),” Bennecke said.

Bennecke’s group figures the average family of four will play $300 more per year due to the tax. “We spend $900 per year in extra gas,” he said.

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