GAINESVILLE - Georgia's Transportation Commissioner told Gainesville Rotarians Monday that a vote for a state amendment on November 2nd is a vote for flexibility in highway project funding.
Vance Smith said he was not in Gainesville to campaign for Senate Resolution 821 but he did want his audience to know it would allow DOT to enter into multi-year construction agreements, similar to the way consumers make installment payments.Currently Georgia DOT is required to have all the funds when a multi-year project contract is signed.
"You can just pay for that project each year, the amount of money that is owed each year, so that frees up a little bit of money so that you can do other projects," Smith said.
Smith said he wants to pull as much federal transportation money out of Washington as possible and that includes more stimulus funding. Smith was not sure stimulus dollars created jobs, but on Georgia highway projects it saved jobs during the recession.
"They were able to keep those employees, especially in the construction industry and go out and perform those jobs and it really helped," Smith said.
Smith added that Georgia drew over $9-million in stimulus funding for various transportation projects over the last 18 months.
Friday
October 18th, 2024
8:26AM
