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Same Tax, Different Goals
Two Institutions Show the Versatility of SPLOST
T he final list of Special-Purpose Local Option Sales Tax
(SPLOST) projects for 2011, which will be approved
by the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission
on July 6, will have a more modest budget than in
previous years, causing longtime SPLOST-supported organiza
tions to trim down their proposals for the use of what they still
consider a crucial means of support.
SPLOST 2011 revenue is projected at Si70 million over
eight years, of which $84 million will be available for projects
after subtracting an already-approved jail expansion. This is
far below the S122 million allotted in SPLOST 2005. A Citizens
Advisory Committee omitted some projects from its recommen
dations and suggested downsizing others to meet the tighter
resources.
When the committee left a proposal for an expansion of the
Classic Center off of its initial list of recommended projects
because of its high price tag, ACC commissioners suggested
that the SPLOST cycle could be extended to accommodate a
higher revenue target if a downsized expansion plan could be
included. Responding to the commission's invitation to come
up with a more modest proposal. Classic Center Executive
Director Paul Cramer decided to prioritize a square footage
expansion. The center is no longer
requesting soundproofing equipment to
facilitate multiple events taking place
in different parts of its exhibit hall.
Plans for chandeliers and soffited ceil
ings in the hall were replaced with a
steel ceiling, and a planned learning lab
to be run jointly with the hotel, restau
rant and tourism management program
at Athens Technical College was cut.
The project's original price tag of
more than $53 million has been whit
tled down to $25 million. But Cramer
hopes that will be enough for the cen
ter to expand sufficiently to continue
to host conventions that are growing
too large for its current size. "We are
down to bare bones," he says. "We are
down to parking, exhibit space, and the
atrium area. It gets us the critical mass
to get the groups."
The Classic Center was built in 1995
as a SPLOST project, and has remained
a beneficiary of these funds. In 2000, it received money for
a parking deck and surface parking, and in 2005, its theater
renovations were funded, as were its expansion into historic
warehouses on Foundry Street. Now, it seeks funds to nearly
double the size of its centerpiece 28,000 square-foot exhibit
hall to 53,000 square feet. In addition, an atrium will be added
between the current exhibit hall and theater, and the number
of parking spaces—currently about 600—will grow by 200 to
help support this new capacity.
Cramer says the expansion is necessary to allow the center
to accommodate annual conventions like the upcoming North
Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, which now
has 3,000 people. Without the new square footage, he says,
the center may lose events to competing convention centers,
such as those in Columbus, which has 57,000 square feet, or in
Savannah, which has 97,000. An average convention attendee
spends $195 in town every day of the convention, according to
Cramer.
"All we need to do is to provide them the appropriate space
and they will come, and with them will come millions of dollars
to spend," Cramer says.
Cramer rejects the argument that conventions that are
outgrowing the Classic Center can be replaced by other conven
tions that are growing into the space. Weekends are typically
booked with local events like weddings or graduations, he says,
and conventions must set up, run and move out during the
week, restricting the Center to about 50 conventions a year.
Cramer wants to maximize the amount of profit possible within
this limit.
"Why not do larger conventions that employ more people,
bring more money to your city, and provide an outstanding
return on your investment?" he says.
Though Cramer touts the expansion's potential economic
impact as the central basis for SPLOST support of the Classic
Center, other candidate projects provide differing justifications.
The Athens-Clarke County Library, another repeated recipient
of SPLOST funding, cites quality-of-life improvement and the
protection of existing facility investments in its request. The
library's offerings to local residents are numerous: in addition
to information and computing resources, it provides lectures,
film screenings, career and financial classes, test preparation
and meeting spaces.
As with the Classic Center, the library has seen its proposal
cut down for 2011. Its plans for a branch in Southeast Athens,
in the area of Gaines School Road and Cedar Shoals Road was
removed, as was the creation of a computer van to bring com
puters to people who don't have them. The requested funding
is $2,364,000. compared to the $10,834,760 received in 2005.
"The committee came to us and said, Pare down your
requests to the bare essentials,'~ says library director Kathryn
Ames.
The library is requesting $200,000 annually from SPLOST for
book purchases. The funding had previously been $135,000,
but the state has cut funding for books from 60 cents per cap
ita to 16.5 this year. Ames says that SPLOST already accounts
for 44 percent of the library's holdings of around 250,000
items.
Aside from equipment to reduce energy usage, the other
items that remain in the 2011 request are aimed at improving
services for patrons. They include funding to hire tutors for a
homework center, to purchase materials and to bring in lectur
ers to help parents teach their children literacy. The library has
also asked for a radio frequency identifier system, which would
allow patrons to check out materials themselves and automate
the process of sorting returned materials. This would free
library staff to provide more customer service. Ames hopes to
create what she calls a "concierge desk" in the library.
For the library. SPLOST funding can be an intermittent
endeavor. Money for books was unavailable in 2007, and the
Friends of the Athens-Clarke County Library helped shore up
the gap with a fundraiser that doubled its endowment for
that year. Funds from SPLOST 2005 to renovate and expand
the library building had to wait on a $2 million state grant
that didn't come until 2009. The construction plans will not
be finalized until December, with work beginning in February
2011, according to project manager Keith Sanders.
Even so, the tax money has been crucial in outfitting the
current building with enough space, creating children's pro
grams to stage, at that building ami purchasing current books
to stock its shelves, according to Ames.
"If we didn't have SPLOST, we would be in terrible straits,"
she says.
Economic development and improved quality of life are
both highly valued goals to the Athens community. By varying
means and to different ends, the Athens institutions of the
Classic Center and the public library join other committee-
recommended projects such as bridge improvements and reno
vation to the city's parks in meeting one of the key criteria for
receiving SPLOST funds: promoting "the upgrade and continued
use of [ACC] facilities."
Russttii Cox
8 FlAGPOLE.COM JUNE 16,2010
8 Moo.ajomn oros ,ai anui