Big Business Backing TSPLOST Financially

The transportation referendum that is on the Gwinnett ballot for July 31 has drawn millions of dollars in support from major Atlanta-based corporations, according to media reports.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported that the Citizens for Transportation Mobility has raised $6.5 million from spring 2011 through July 16, 2012.

Records show that the Transportation Leadership Coalition, which is fighting the referendum, raised $14,418, the AJC reported.

Cox Enterprises, parent company of the AJC, and Georgia Power both contributed $250,000. Coca-Cola Co. donated $197,500.

The TSPLOST would add a 1 percent sales tax in Gwinnett and a 10-county metro Atlanta region to fund transportation-related improvements. Collections would begin in 2013.

Gwinnett projects are on the list of proposed improvements. Grayson and a little less than a third of Loganville fall into the metro Atlanta SPLOST region. The rest of Loganville is in Walton County and votes for SPLOST and projects in the Northeast Georgia Region. One region's vote does not impact the other. The tax will apply only to a region that votes for it.