MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The folks on Knight Circle Drive in Milledgeville like their home.
“Convenient to town, and we've got a nice lot on the lake,” said Tony Briggs who's lived there for over 60 years.
But when it comes to their nearby infrastructure, his outlook gets a little less rosy.
“I do not like the roads,” he said.
And, if you live in Baldwin County and you have a problem with your neighborhood's roads, it might be on Baldwin County's list of 156 roads to get fixed if voters pass the one-penny tax for transportation.
Like most SPLOSTS, for every dollar someone spends, a penny will added to the bill. With those funds, they then get set aside for special projects.
Briggs says he moved into the neighborhood when the road was made out of dirt. Since then, they've paved it with gravel.
“They never have repaired Knight Circle since we've been here,” he explained.
Brigg's neighbor, Patti Rushin, says the road has been getting worse for years.
“There's one of the bad potholes right there,” she pointed out. “The roads are bumpy, they've been repaired many times. There are asphalt patches everywhere– they crumble and go back to what they were before they were repaired."
They say it makes driving inconvenient.
“It actually wears and tears on your tires,” Briggs said. “Riding on the rough gravel continuously, day after day after day. It’s not like riding on smooth asphalt.”
Sometimes, they say it’s plain unsafe.
“You have deer that come across here every day,” Rushin said. “You're trying to avoid a deer and you hit a pothole, or you hit a deer to avoid a pothole. It’s tough.”
That's why Baldwin County Manager Carlos Tobar says the TSPLOST is needed.
“We have the list of roads, roughly 140 miles of roads that'll be resurfaced in a five-year period,” he said.
Because, right now, fixing roads takes a while.
“We spend a million dollars to resurface roads every year right now," Tobar said. "At the rate that we're going, it's gonna take 84 years to get around the county.”
Tobar says County Commissioners will dedicate all $55 million from the TSPOLST to fix 156 roads and three bridges, like Knight Circle Drive. He says it is because that's what's needed most.
“The majority of the roads are not in good condition” Tobar explains. "They need to be driving on smoother roads. It does create more wear and tear on the vehicles. It’s for economic development. For any businesses wanting to come here, they have to got to a place where they have good, safe roads."
Rushin says what's not to like about that?
"It's not just about my road, it's about all roads. The problem shouldn't rest on the shoulder of the taxpayer. The only other way that we can get all the roads fixed is either raising property taxes or the TSPLOST, which is practically painless," she said. "It'd be nice to have a nice road.”
Tobar says if the TSPOLST passes, they'll split 35% of the funds with the city.
Early voting is already underway. The official election day is Nov. 7 and you can vote in advance through Friday, Nov. 3.