One of the main focuses of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) 1 was roads and streets. A County with over 258 miles of County roads to maintain, many of those being dirt. The County did not have, nor do they have, the funds today to maintain them or improve them. Paving of dirt roads is something that many residents desire and mediation of flood issues are at the top of everyone's list to fix, without the availability to access SPLOST funds many of the improvements we have seen over the past 26 years would never had happen. We still have a ways to go, but with the possibility of having another round of SPLOST we can expect to see continued road and drainage improvements.
Roads is a big part of what SPLOST is about; the "brown" penny helps repair and pave County-maintained roads in Liberty County. Without this one cent, property taxes would be paying for all road repairs and paving. To pave one mile of road today takes about one million dollars. There are over 101 miles of dirt roads and 138 miles of paved roads that our Road Department has responsibility to maintain. Without the one-cent sales tax, it would be very hard to maintain all those miles of roads.