VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) -
Lowndes County is struggling to figure out what will happen to all of the planned T-SPLOST road projects officials were hoping to start.
58 percent of voters in the southern Georgia region voted no on the one-cent sales tax increase.
66 percent of voters in Lowndes County voted against the transportation sales tax.
Opponent Nolan Cox says the public took this referendum into their own hands.
"It was the wrong tax at the wrong time. It was a common sense thing, all you had to do was give the people the information," said Nolan Cox.
"TSPLOST opponents say it wasn't just their campaign efforts that helped them win the vote, but the signs they put up all over the city that got people's attention," said Cox.
Valdosta business owner Roy Taylor says all the money he contributed was well worth it.
"$4,000 dollars, and I'm proud of it. It was the best investment I've ever made to help the little people, and I'm one of the little people," said Roy Taylor, Valdosta Business Owner.
But now Mayor John Gayle says the county has to pick up pieces.
"It's going to be an interesting few weeks ahead of us to see what now happens. What I'm afraid of is that the money we're supposed to get through federal funding might now be redirected," said John Gayle, Mayor.
The County receives an annual transportation budget of $20M dollars through state and federal funds, but since the mayor says the money is in jeopardy, the planned TSPLOST road projects will be put on hold.
"We won't be able to do those. Those projects that are on the federal list will still be there if some money trickles down the pipe that we have, then we will do what we can with that," said Gayle.
For now, TSPLOST opponents are still celebrating their win for not having to pay the one-cent sales tax.
Mayor Gayle says he's worried that the vote against TSPLOST may now send new industry investors to other regions that will get transportation improvements with the tax.
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