Funding for a project that will open up more of South Augusta to business, residential, and commercial growth has the green light.
Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 9 (SPLOST 9) was approved by more than 58.5% of the more than 22,000 residents who cast a ballot. It is a $375 million package that will take effect when SPLOST 8 wraps up this fall.
Money for a project from the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) is among those on the approved list.
AEDA received $22 million of the $25 million it had requested to extend sanitary sewer service farther into the south end of Richmond County. Currently, municipal sewer service ends on Deans Bridge Road, Peach Orchard Road, Windsor Spring Road, and at the Augusta Corporate Park on Mike Padgett Highway.
Cal Wray, president of AEDA, told ABD the amount approved will fully fund the project, from design to construction.
“That allows us to start planning the route, engineering the design, and opening up that entire area of South Augusta for commercial, residential, and industrial,” he said.
Wray added that this project will not be bonded. It is a cash project.
“We are already talking about meetings to start the process, but I would hope to see construction by the end of 2027,” he said. “That’s maybe a little ideal, because funds do have to be collected, and there is a pipeline of projects in the SPLOST, so it’s a matter of what gets funded first by the county.”
Economic Impact $The project includes a pump station, gravity, and 24” force mains. It will stretch from Little Spirit Creek Basin to North McCombs Road. That endpoint is particularly significant. In addition to stimulating residential, retail, and commercial development, it will serve the proposed industrial mega-site planned at the Richmond and Burke County line.
“There will probably be some right-of-way needed to be acquired, except that there are water lines already in many of these areas, so many of the corridors already have the space needed to add the sewer extensions,” he explained. “And it will be open to homeowners if they want to come on the sewer system, but it won’t be required.”
The 1,150-acre mega-site is being developed for a single user, similar to the Hyundai plant developed in Bryan County between Savannah and Fort Stewart. Wray envisions a $1 billion investment that creates 1,000 jobs.
Also, on the May 19 ballot, there was a new special tax. FLOST, a Floating Local Option Sales Tax, is a 0.5% sales tax intended to reduce property taxes. It was approved by more than 70% margin.
Wray said AEDA can use that as another selling tool.
“As we are now lowering property taxes with the use of FLOST, it makes it a more attractive community for people to live and know they’re going to have a lower tax burden on their real property,” he said, adding it can help attract new businesses.
“Lower property taxes as we compete with every other area of the country, it makes a difference when you look at the overall performance on what can be successful and what’s not,” said Wray.
SPLOT 9 also calls for a major renovation of the Charles B. Webster Detention Center, expansion of the Augusta Convention Center, rejuvenating Riverwalk Augusta, and rebuilding the Boathouse.
The SPLOST project list is available at:
https://www.augustaga.gov/DocumentCenter/View/20848/SPLOST-9-Project-List-Approved-1062026
