The White County Chamber of Commerce has its work cut out in 2012.

The organization will push for voters March 6 to extend a 1 percent special purpose local option sales tax for government improvements, then turn around and advocate passage July 31 of a 1 percent regional sales tax for transportation.

"It's going to be difficult," concedes Judy Walker, the chamber's president, of the tasks ahead. "I'm not going to lie. I think it's going to be (something) we have to really pay close attention to."

But White County doesn't stand alone in the challenge.

Sales tax promoters statewide will have to wrestle with voters reaching a tipping point on taxes — whether government can keep piling on penny taxes for this or that building program, especially in an economy that seems unwilling to recover.

"It's obviously a real challenge, but the simple fact is, like everything in life, we weigh the costs versus the benefits," said Doug Callaway, who heads the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's Georgia Transportation Alliance. "I'm probably the most fiscally conservative person I know ... and I've got to tell you the benefits are overwhelming."

He said he hopes to find out how "the costs translate to the average Georgian and let the voters make a fully informed decision."

"I think that once we compare those facts side by side, I think the voters in most, if not all, the regions are going to say, ‘That's a pretty good deal.'"

Callaway, who started his job Nov. 1, said he realizes the strangled economy will pose a hurdle, but the "key functions of limited government" — police, fire and transportation — must be addressed.

Transportation improvements not only will boost the economy, he said, but should help with traffic congestion that confronts many drivers every day.

Plus, the one thing that gets overlooked is enhanced safety, Callaway said.

"People kind of get numbed to that," he said.

The Georgia Transportation Alliance will help promote the sales tax passage in areas outside of metro Atlanta, which has its own chamber initiative.

However, chambers throughout the 13 counties that make up the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission are joining forces to push for passage as well.

The Hall County Chamber of Commerce's board of directors voted in October to endorse the campaign, with president and CEO Kit Dunlap saying she expects the real push will begin after the new year.

James McCoy, who heads the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce, said sales tax weariness "has been a matter of conversation," noting that Forsyth passed a county government sales tax extension on Nov. 8 by a narrow margin.

"But at the end of the day, just like any general SPLOST, (the transportation vote) is going to be no different in terms of it's just a matter of sharing with the public what really is included in this, how it works, what they'll be paying and what they'll be getting in return."

A parkway around Cleveland and the widening of U.S. 129 to Hall County are White County's key projects in the transportation vote.

Improvements will enhance tourism and also ease travel for residents in counties north of White traveling to Gainesville for health care needs, Walker said.

"It's important ... we do our homework and let people know the importance of both of these (sales tax votes)," she said.

All Georgians pay at least 4 percent sales tax, with that amount going to the state's general fund. All local option sales taxes must be approved by the voters in the jurisdiction.

In Hall County, the sales tax is 7 percent, with 1 percent for city-county local option sales taxes, 1 percent for special purpose local option sales taxes for capital projects and infrastructure improvements and 1 percent for education-related construction projects.

If the transportation tax is approved, Hall's sales tax will climb to 8 percent.

Danny Lewis, executive director of the Gainesville-based Georgia Mountains Regional Commission, said state Department of Transportation officials have frowned on the transportation tax being known as T-SPLOST.

The correct reference, they say, is the Transportation Investment Act vote, a reference to the 2010 law that proposes the new sales tax.

Todd Long, the DOT's planning director, speaking at a recent conference, said the tax has regional, not merely local, implications.

"His point is well taken," Lewis said.

The tax will be voted on statewide but can be approved only by a regional vote. Hall and Forsyth counties are part of the 13-county GMRC.

A majority vote throughout the region, or 50 percent plus 1, will pass the referendum.

If voters don't approve the project list, governments in that particular region must match 30 percent of state DOT Local Maintenance and Improvement Grants, compared to 10 percent if the tax is approved.

In the Georgia Mountains region, some $600 million in projects are set for Hall and Forsyth counties, by far the largest in the region, with the total for regional projects estimated at about $945 million.