Nobody likes to pay taxes, but let’s think about our options if we don’t enact the transportation tax, or T-SPLOST, on July 31.

The long list of T-SPLOST road projects directly targeting congestion would literally be stuck in their own traffic, so to speak. We need these improvements now, not years down the road.

One way or another, we still have to pay for these necessary road projects; Spout Springs, the Sardis Connector, and widening Cleveland Highway can’t wait forever. With T-SPLOST, the local dollar match for traffic projects is 10 percent, and the rest is paid with T-SPLOST dollars. Without T-SPLOST, the local match is 30 percent.

If we turn down T-SPLOST while our neighbors approve it, we can forget about competing against them to bring industry and jobs here.

Let’s get it right the first time, because we may never get this chance again. Vote “yes” for T-SPLOST. I am.

Richard Riley
Gainesville