State Sen. Lester Jackson said Wednesday a few key local issues that were not resolved during the state assembly’s abbreviated session this year will need to be addressed, the sooner the better.
Jackson, D-Savannah, spoke during the monthly luncheon of the Savannah Downtown Business Association, which has a membership of about 250 active business members.
The third-term Democrat outlined a few of the hot-button issues that would need to be revisited during the next term, including the expansion of Chatham Area Transit, which is facing resistance from some corners of Chatham County.
“We have bus service right now that does not go to every part of Chatham County,” said Jackson. “Every major city in our nation has a mobile and efficient transit system, and we need to fix that next year.”
He said the transit system needs to be accessible everywhere to bring people to work.
“We don’t want to consider our transit area system as a system to move poor people around our community,” said Jackson.
He said the second issue they were not able to address was the consolidation of the board of elections and board of registrants.
“We’re one of the few counties in our great state that has two separate boards, but many feel those two boards should be combined,” he said. “We weren’t able to get a consensus this year, but hopefully that’s going to happen.”
Jackson also touched briefly on the de-annexation of Hutchinson Island, a proposal supported by Chatham County Commission Chairman Al Scott and some other state legislators but opposed by city officials.
“We know that Hutchinson Island can be a tremendous economic boon to our community,” said Jackson. “The city disagreed with having it de-annexed, so we’re putting a task force together to look at that.”
He said another top priority is the public health department, which despite an additional $1.4 million in funding, is still overworked.
Jackson told the crowd he understood the challenges of being a business owner in today’s economy while explaining the various legislation. He said of the state’s $20 billion budget, $5 billion is generated from sales tax and another $1 billion from corporate income tax. He said since 2008, the budget has shrunk, even as the population has increased.
“So we’re doing more with less because we’re having to spread it around to 600,000 more people,” said Jackson.
It wasn’t all bad news, though. Among the accomplishments he ticked off was the passing of a bill to allow bars to open on the Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day, though he admitted he wanted a previous version that would’ve included all major holidays.
He also touted million-dollar allocations given to Savannah State University and Armstrong Atlantic as significant investments for the community.
“All in all, this was a short session; it was a very effective session,” said Jackson. “But what I like to boast about is that we were able to bring a lot of money home. When we can get money to make sure our colleges thrive, it helps all of us.”
