State Senator Steve Gooch
4/23/15
(Cleveland)- State Senator Steve Gooch, of Dahlonega talked to the White County Rotary Club Tuesday, the senator who serves as Vice Chairman of the senate Transportation Committee, shared information about the recently approved Transportation Funding Act approved.
Gooch provided information about the funding tool that will provide additional revenue for the Georgia Department of Transportation which he said, is necessary the maintenance of transportation components.
The act which will be effective July first sets the excise tax on motor fuel at 26 cents per gallon rather than having it fluctuating with the price of fuel. There are many other components of the law including imposing an impact fee for electric vehicles, requiring innkeepers to charge $5.00 per night to customers that will go to the fund.
Gooch said providing these talks to community groups helps get the facts out to the public. He said, “it also helps to dispel a lot of rumors and distorted facts the media, especially in Atlanta only tell part of the story, they don’t tell all the story.”
Some of the additional funding that is expected to be generated will be used to relieve the traffic delays and congestion in the Atlanta and other metro areas but Gooch said, “ now up here in White County you’re not going to have congestion like that, but we’re seeing 40-50 million dollars being spent right now on the new road that’s being built. That’s going to increase our economic development and it’s going to increase our quality of life, it’s going to help tourist come through our community, it’s going to help locals get in and out of town as well. So there’s an economic impact with some value to that.”
Gooch said,” the DOT has a tough job to be able to maintain what we have before we start expanding our existing roadways. “
