Chatham Commission Debates How to Proceed with SPLOST Funded Indoor Sports Gymnasium

Aug. 24, 2025 – Chatham County’s share of the current Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) includes $17 million for “indoor sports facilities.” Since the tax collection period began in 2020, the project evolved into one large indoor 12-court sports gymnasium with an estimated cost of more than $60 million.

The thing is, Chatham County does not have the funding to build a $60 million sports gymnasium, and some county commissioners would really like to have something to show before the next SPLOST referendum goes before voters in November.

That dilemma was played out at the tail end of the commission’s meeting on Friday, after Commissioner Patrick Farrell expressed disappointment with the slow progress of the sports complex and questioned County Manager Michael Kaigler about the status of the project.

Apparently, Chairman Chester Ellis and other county commissioners have decided to reduce the scale of the project to a 4-6 court facility, according to Kaigler – a downsizing Farrell took issue with.

Farrell said the large-scale facility would attract major tournaments, provide economic benefits, have a decades-long impact and serve as a preventative measure to help youth and reduce spending on the judicial system and jail. He suggested that they build a large facility that could accommodate the 12 courts but that it be constructed essentially as a stripped-down warehouse type building that keeps costs at a minimum, with the ability to make improvements in the future.

“Rather than slashing the Taj Mahal, let’s just re-engineer it where we can keep the size and provide the service and maybe not the sparkle if that’s necessary,” Farrell said. “But we are a very prosperous county compared to many, many, many, many counties anywhere near here, and we should produce a project that we would all be proud of.”

Commissioner Anthony “Wayne” Noha agreed, stating the county has the opportunity to build a “first class facility.”

“So, I would encourage us to rethink that,” Noha said. “We don’t have a shovel in the ground yet … there’s not even a tree taken down, so I would ask that we look at that again and maybe I’ll think differently after I hear those comments.”

However, Commissioner Dean Kicklighter countered that a large facility would not serve the young people most in need and that smaller, neighborhood centers throughout the county would be more effective and fiscally responsible – while describing the county’s aquatic center as an example of an expensive and underused cautionary tale.

“If we want to do something in the name of underprivileged or lower income children … building a facility that would be primarily occupied by middle to upper income children … This wouldn’t be the way to have an effect,” Kicklighter said, while claiming there was a lack of such facilities in his district. “Putting a facility in one spot when some kids can’t afford to drive across town … that’s not going to help that child.”

Friday’s discussion came after commissioners in May 2024 approved the location for the complex, a county-owned site on Savannah’s southside, following a site analysis and traffic study. Located north of Abercorn Street next to the Lowe’s hardware store, the 16-acre site received a consultant’s highest score over locations at Tom Triplett Park and in Port Wentworth.

Voters approved the $17 million for the indoor sports facilities as part of the 2019 referendum to extend SPLOST from 2020-2026. A consultant later estimated it would cost $55 million to construct a proposed 12-court gymnasium with a fitness center, multi-purpose rooms and a 2,000-seat capacity.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Aaron “Adot” Whitely stressed at Friday’s meeting the urgency of beginning construction on the facility before the upcoming SPLOST referendum on November 4.

“I think it’s vitally important that this needs to be coming out of the ground before November,” Whitely said. “Because, how can we go back to the citizens and ask them to vote for another SPLOST, and we haven’t even started this?”

Chairman Chester Ellis also expressed his own frustration with the lack of progress.

“I’ve been sitting here for four years and some more and nothing has been done,” Ellis said.

Ellis added that the original SPLOST referendum calls for the construction of at least two gyms, making the process more complicated.

And Kaigler said that even if the facility is reduced to 4-6 courts, the $17 million will not cover costs, so they still have a budgeting issue, on top of other projects the county is working on.

“This is not just an isolated project; We’ve got to look at it in the totality,” he said. “So, we are putting together a capital plan that you all will be able to look and approve.”

SPLOST updates

Initially implemented in 1985, the 1-percent sales tax has been reauthorized by voters seven times since then to fund capital projects throughout the county and its municipalities. The current SPLOST 7 is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2026, and the new 6-year tax would begin on Oct. 1, 2026, if approved by voters during the Nov. 4 referendum.

Read how much has been raised by SPLOST 7 so far and what projects are to be funded if SPLOST 8 is approved at SPLOST Update – Savannah Agenda.

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