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Monroe County citizens to vote on road improvement tax

Funding would last five years, and give about $19 million for roadwork. That includes funding from the Local Maintenance and Improvement grant.

MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — Dirt rises when Charlotte Morey walks to the mailbox. It's a part of living on an unpaved road. 

"It's rough, it's dusty, when it rains it's a mess, people get stuck," explains Morey. 

This election season, people in Monroe County have the option to put tax dollars toward roughly 150 miles of road resurfacing with a transportation local sales tax.

"Just depreciation of the road, potholes, unpaved roads, poorly-paved roads," says District 2 commissioner Eddie Rowland. 

Rowland says state funding isn't enough to pay for all the projects the county needs.

He says, "Roads are basically half the calls that I get, so evidently, the county is very interested in doing something to our road situation."

According to Rowland, the biggest project included in the TSPLOST is for resurfacing on Montpelier Road. 

"Their important for mail delivery, for buses, for sheriff, for fire EMS, and just for people to get back and forth from their place of business, so it's a daily use thing," says Rowland. 

The road leads to the county's high school, main fire station, maintenance department, and a few subdivisions. 

Funding would last five years and give about $19 million for roadwork. That includes funding from the Local Maintenance and Improvement grant. 

Former Commissioner Mike Bilderback worries the transportation tax isn't getting the attention it deserves. 

"It's on a special election cycle, and that is a guaranteed low turnout vote," says Bilderback. 

The county had two regional TSPLOST votes, meaning several counties would split the funds, but voters turned it down both times.  

"If you're going to sell me on a new tax, give me some bridgework. We haven't seen major bridgework in many, many years," says Bilderback. 

Morey says the changes included in the TSPLOST are long overdue. "It's just not safe," she says.

If approved, the funding would go to the county, the city of Forsyth, and Culloden to make road improvements.

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