Though all Regional Transportation Roundtable Committees throughout the state have approved their lists of projects for next year’s Transportation Investment Act referendum, not everyone is in favor of the penny tax that would pay for such projects.
At a Coastal Regional Commission meeting Wednesday at the Richmond Hill City Center, CRC Executive Director Allen Burns told members he had no new information but was already aware of organized opposition to the TIA through Tea Party groups, with more likely to come. 
“We know there is going to be formalized opposition statewide,” Burns said. “As we go forward, it is more critical than ever that we inform the public of what TIA is and the impact in our communities.”
If approved by voters, the TIA, sometimes referred to as a TSPLOST, or transportation special local option sales tax, would generate billions of dollars around the state – including around $1.6 billion in the Coastal Region that includes Bryan County – to for roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure projects.
The funding for Coastal Region projects would be provided by a new 1 percent sales tax in the 10-county region that voters will decide in 2012.
Though measures have been taken to move the TIA vote to ballots in the November 2012 general election, the Regional Transportation Roundtable Committee Chairman Jimmy Burnsed said as far as he knows it is still on ballot during the March primary
Burnsed said he is aware of opposition in Glynn County and in the Atlanta area, but he hasn’t heard of any opposition in Bryan County and believes the tax would fair well here.
“I think we have a pretty good chance of passing it here,” he said. “I could be wrong but I think the projects we have for our county are all critical, and with the Department of Transportation not being able to fund some of our more important projects, I think the citizens would look upon them favorably.”
Read more in the Nov. 9 edition of the News.