Augusta, GA
James Brown Arena C-SPLOST vote hits ballots Tuesday for Richmond County
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/B5FAPVEQYFA7FPDQN5NIEAWSWQ.png "James Brown Arena C-SPLOST vote hits ballots Tuesday for Richmond County")
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – It’s your turn to decide: Will you vote yes or no for a new James Brown Arena?
“C-SPLOST” is a proposed half-penny sales tax in Richmond County, which equals out to an extra 50 cents for every $100 spent.
Right now, Augusta leaders are making a last-minute push to voters.
Commissioners are out passing out “yes” signs and standing as a united front at a 5 p.m. support rally on Monday.
With hours left till election day, it’s all hands on deck to get as many people to turn up as possible, with only as much as 10% of voters expected to turn out.
“We’re real excited. We’re ready for the vote. We think this is the best way to fund this arena. We can get 40% plus outside of Richmond County to pay for the arena, and we think that’s a real plus for the community,” said Brad Ussry, Vice Chair of the Coliseum Authority.
The Coliseum Authority says Tuesday’s vote may be the last chance to get this project approved.
With the estimated cost of a new arena going up by the year and the difficulty of getting the sales tax to the ballot this year through Governor Kemp’s bill, they say they’re out of options in getting a funding source.
People against it say that on top of not wanting more taxes, they can’t trust our current government to get the job done.
“We can’t cut our grass. We have a lot of dilapidated buildings. We’re 250 police officers short. I could go on forever, and I just think there are better ways of doing it. And I think we should do it when we can afford to do it,” said Michael Thurman.
He has already put out at least 300 “no” signs across the county, hoping to get the message to everyone.
In the end, it’s all down to the vote.
“It’s time to do something. We’ve got an obsolete building,” said Ussry.
Thurman said: “We can do it when we can afford to do it.”
If it doesn’t pass, there will be no new tax and we keep the same arena.
If C-SPLOST does pass, construction on a new arena could start in the middle of next year, about a two-and-a-half-year project aiming to finish in 2026.
Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – It’s been more than 100 days since Hurricane Helene came through our area.
Now, those in the CSRA are still cleaning up the aftermath.
On Saturday, Rooting for Augusta helped the area get back to normal.
“Every once in a while, we have a horrific event that unites us all, and we certainly had it with the storm. Everybody can agree that it’s a good thing to plant trees back in the right spots,” said Dennis Trotter with Rooting for Augusta.
Rooting for Augusta gave away 700 trees as part of the event.
Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – After swearing in 100 new deputies at the beginning of his tenure, Richmond County Sheriff Eugene Brantley also addressed promotions and appointments for those in the sheriff’s office.
It happened on Friday before the winter weather got underway and impacted the region.
Brantley spoke with us after about why the new promotions, appointments and people in the sheriff’s office will benefit the community.
“For the most part, when you’re suffering from a shortage of staff like we have been and so many other agencies in the state of Georgia and around the country, I think it is a boost in the arm to onboard 100 people to help get things that we need slow down crime and stop what is plaguing our community,” said Brantley.
Brantley said it was the first step to making the community safer.
He says he has been working on improving the jail as well.
Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – AugustaCon was back, but in a new home this time.
Saturday’s event was held in Columbia County at the Performing Arts Center.
The event holds video game tournaments and hosts vendors that had anime and video game-style items.
We spoke to one of the vendors, who helped run the video game tournament there.
“We really love it. It’s a great environment. We love seeing new gamers, collectors, anyone that likes anime,” said Cedric Bacon.
If you missed out on Saturday’s AugustaCon, there are ones usually in the summer and winter as well.
Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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