Henry County voters have narrowly approved the SPLOST VI program. This will continue the county’s local sales tax through March 2031, or six additional years. According to unofficial results, the vote passed by fewer than 800 votes out of 124,000+ ballots.
The county estimates the sales tax will generate $470 million over six years. The proceeds must then be spent on capital projects, such as roads, parks and buildings.
Henry County Approved SPLOST VI
Voters considered the SPLOST VI ballot question during the November 2024 election. This is believed to be the first time Henry County considered a SPLOST referendum on top of a Presidential election. Typically, SPLOST questions are held in special elections. As a result, a far greater number of voters weighed-in on the question. For example, the last SPLOST vote in 2019 had about 16,000 ballots cast. This year’s ballot had 7.6x the votes.
With the votes counted, 50.32% of voters said yes on SPLOST VI. 49.68% said no. Historically, T-SPLOST in 2021 had a 54.6% pass rate from 15,500 votes. SPLOST V in 2019 was 52.8% yes.
Following the vote’s passage, there will be no change to the local sales tax rate in Henry County. It will remain eight percent. The current SPLOST V program’s collections will end on March 31, 2025. The new SPLOST VI program begins immediately thereafter on April 1. Because Henry County and the cities have an IGA, the program will last six years. The intergovernmental agreement lays out how much the county and each city will receive in collections:
Percent | Dollar Amount | |
---|---|---|
Henry County | 68% | $319.6 M |
Hampton | 3.55% | $16.7 M |
Locust Grove | 3.80% | $17.9 M |
McDonough | 12.34% | $58.0 M |
Stockbridge | 12.31% | $57.8 M |
Total | 100% | $470 M |
SPLOST VI Project List
This section specifically looks at county projects. Each city has its own projects.
Henry County plans to spend 67.7% of its SPLOST proceeds on transportation projects. This breaks down further to include the following:
- $89.82 million on major road projects,
- $40.72 million on intersections,
- $11.75 million on dirt roads,
- $3.15 million on sidewalks,
- $8.34 million on bridge improvements, and
- $62.59 million on road resurfacing.
- Total: $216.37 million
Some major road projects include building the Airline Road extension and Keys Ferry Road extension, both in Ola, widening Fairview Road, between Panola Road and Hearn Road, and widening Willow Lane, between Jonesboro Road and Bridges Road. Numerous other widening projects are in the program for design and / or right of way costs. Check out our project map for all major road projects in Henry County!
In addition, the program allocates $96.8 million for capital projects. This includes $39.5 million for public safety, such as a new animal shelter, and $20 million for parks improvements. Finally, the county will build a new tag office in Locust Grove and replace Hidden Valley Senior Center in Fairview.
For the full Henry County SPLOST VI project list, check out this article! To see all November 2024 election results, visit our results page!
Featured image shows Interstate 75 and SPLOST VI vote sign. AA Roads photo / Sign Maker by Brendon Strowe sign.
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