Officials from Troup County, the school system and three municipalities got together Wednesday for an update on the 1 percent special-purpose local-option sales tax, which can be used only for capital improvement projects that have been approved by voters in a referendum.

Patrick Crews, who presided at the meeting at the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce, said full disclosure will help build the public’s trust for future special tax initiatives.

Revenues from the tax are predicted to drop with the rest of the economy but governments have made short work of spending the money on local projects.

Here is an update from each agency:

Troup County

Troup County and the three municipalities combined on a six-year tax that started in January 2007 and will raise an estimated $70 million for capital improvements, especially road resurfacing, both for countywide benefit and the benefit of individual jurisdictions.

The first $2 million was used to relocate the county Health Department to the former county administration building on Dallis Street because of new construction at its former site on the campus of West Georgia Medical Center. The county is required by law to provide a facility for the health department.

County engineer James Emery said $905,000 was used to buy equipment that allows the county to do its own paving for the first time, as well as patching, shoulder work and striping. The equipment can recycle road beds and prepare them for paving, and maintain the 48.6 miles of dirt roads in the unincorporated area.

“It has been a tremendous benefit to the county and the three cities,” Emery said, and the equipment’s cost was recovered after the first 33.7 miles of paving.

In the six years before the tax, the county paved a total of 86 roads or an average of 14.3 per year. Since the tax began two years ago, the county has paved 196 roads, or an average of 65 per year and “county paving crews do a real quality job,” Emery said.

The county even gets 33 percent more bang for the buck from state Local Assistance Road Program money by doing its own paving, he said.

The county had planned to build its own asphalt plant with special tax money, but opted instead for an agreement with C.W. Matthews, Inc., which already had an asphalt plant in Troup County.

“It’s been a great partnership with C.W. Matthews,” which has trained inmates and county employees on the new road equipment, Emery said.

The intersection at Bartley Road at Shoemaker and Webb-Bartley roads has been improved to better manage traffic around the Kia Motors plant. Turn lanes were added at all three approaches at Hammett and Tin Bridge roads to improve safety around Callaway Elementary and Middle schools.

County planner Nancy Seegar said $1 million was allocated from the tax for upgraded public safety radio communications and the county parlayed that money into federal grants of $835,000 and $24,000. The project, expected to be completed by the end of this year, includes a repeater tower in Hogansville at Interstate 85 to connect all of Troup County with the 800 megahertz system in Muscogee and Harris counties.

Fire Chief Jerry Heard will use $1.8 million to replace five fire trucks and two tankers. Bids on the first two trucks are due May 28.

Troup County schools

The Troup County school system’s current five-year special tax, its third in a row, began on July 1, 2007 with collections projected at $55,459,700. It has spent or committed $47,996,789 for capital improvements, including an $11 million classroom addition currently in pre-construction at LaGrange High School. An addition at Troup High School is expected later.

“SPLOST has been a tremendous support for education in this community,” said county Schools Superintendent Ed Smith. “… We’ve been very fortunate in that Troup County has been able to maintain good, sound and safe facilities, and we’re fortunate to be able to protect programs even in these austere times.”

Completed in 2008 were a $5 million administrative complex on North Davis Road, a $12.5 million Callaway Elementary School, technology upgrades of $4.3 million at all 22 school facilities, bleacher projects at all three high schools, paving at Callaway High and Gardner Newman Middle schools, upgrades to Hendrix Field at Hogansville Elementary School, a baseball scoreboard at LaGrange High, tennis court resurfacing at Troup High and new surveillance equipment for school buses.

New wings at West Point and Berta Weathersbee elementary schools were completed in 2007.

Smith said school officials wisely used bond financing to get projects done with the least disruptions of school activities and to take advantage of low construction prices.

Thanks to the special tax, the school system is in a position to handle the anticipated growth because of Kia Motors and its suppliers, he said.

LaGrange

Of the $70 million the six-year tax is expected to bring in, LaGrange has received around $6 million, which mostly has been spent on new fire departments and road construction.

“In the near future, there will be three ways to get from east to west in LaGrange,” said LaGrange City Manager Tom Hall. Right now the only way through town is Lafayette Parkway to congested Vernon Street, which runs straight through downtown and is a challenge for residents living in the outer subdivisions. While the county concentrates on the south loop, special tax money is being spent to extend Lukken Industrial Drive, which will give drivers another alternative, Hall said.

The city also has used its tax money, in conjunction with the county’s paving crews, to resurface 14.4 miles of streets, “the most we’ve done in one year,” Hall said. About $1 million of the funds were used to build Sewon Boulevard in the Callaway Industrial Park, which opens up that area to even more industrial development.

With its tax revenues, LaGrange built new fire stations on Mooty Bridge Road and Davis Road and refurbished the top floor of the public works building on Hill Street to house fire department administration and training. Hall said the new stations give the city a fire station in each of its four quadrants.

West Point

The bulk of West Point’s revenues from the tax - about $1 million so far - is being used to expand the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which is expected to be done by this fall, said City Clerk Richard McCoy. Small amounts of the money have been used for the city’s walking trail in land adjacent to city park and to pay to draw up plans for a fire station on Kia Parkway.

Hogansville

The bulk of the city’s revenues, about $1 million, have been used for paving dirt streets. Mayor Jimmy Jackson said the city is paving its three dirt streets first before resurfacing its other streets that need repair.

The city also used its money to construct a water line to Coweta County. Hogansville shuttered its water plant last month and started receiving its water supply from Coweta County and LaGrange.