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SPLOST 2026 advisory committee presents potential project list; final list expected in December
Summary
Capital Projects Director Josh Hawkins and SPLOST 2026 advisory committee chair Alex Sams presented a potential project list July 15; the draft totals roughly $89.6 million and will be reduced to match an estimated referendum budget of about $60 million.
At the regularly scheduled July 15 agenda‑setting session, the SPLOST 2026 advisory committee presented a potential project list and an update on process milestones. Josh Hawkins, Capital Projects Director, and advisory committee chair Alex Sams summarized the committee’s work to date and asked commissioners to provide feedback before the committee finalizes its recommendation.
Hawkins told the commission this was a check‑in rather than an action item and noted the committee’s list is preliminary; commissioners will be asked to take final action at the commission’s December regular session. Hawkins and Sams emphasized that the advisory committee worked only with projects submitted by the public and that the committee’s list represents an early step in identifying community priorities. The committee held roughly 17 meetings and the voting approach included discussion at public meetings followed by committee members submitting ranked votes remotely; the committee received roughly 71 initial submissions and reduced the set based on criteria to a working list.
The committee presented a potential project list with a combined cost of roughly $89.6 million — a figure the committee said represented about 150% of staff’s target allowance and would be trimmed before a referendum. Hawkins told the commission staff’s current projection is that collections for a SPLOST question would expire in the fourth quarter of 2026, which, in staff’s view, makes the May 2026 primary an appropriate schedule target for a referendum question. The committee noted certain categories on the draft list, including countywide programs and corridor projects (Barnett Shoals, College Station, Gaines School, Milledge Avenue among those named in the presentation) and said the advisory group included both countywide and geographically focused candidates.
Commissioners asked for additional materials and analysis before a work session in September: requests included an overlay map showing projects funded by prior SPLOST programs (2018 and 2023) to reveal coverage across geographies, clearer narratives for pre‑designated projects and breakdowns of projects that may overlap with other funding sources. Staff said the public submission window had been extended and the committee membership was selected in January, creating an accelerated review schedule in early 2025; Hawkins said staff could provide requested overlays and project lists and clarified that November 2025 decisions regarding predesignated projects had already reserved some funding categories.
What happens next: staff and the advisory committee will refine the list with the commission’s feedback, hold public open‑house events in advance of a proposed September work session, and seek to bring a final candidate list for commission approval on December 2, 2025; that list would be used for a SPLOST 2026 referendum question if the commission chooses to proceed.
Why this matters: SPLOST funding affects the county’s capital program and the geographic distribution of transportation, facility and public‑works investments; the advisory committee’s work is the principal public input vehicle for shaping projects that may appear on a referendum.
