Work at the Pine Mountain Gold Museum at Stockmar Park has stopped because Villa Rica has run out of money to fund the construction.

City officials are hoping Douglas County voters pass a special purpose local option sales tax Tuesday that would generate revenue to continue the project. Nearly $700,000 of SPLOST money has been earmarked for the museum. Without it, there won’t be enough funds to complete the museum anytime soon.

“They’ve spent everything we put in the budget for them this year,” Villa Rica Finance Manager Larry Wood said.

Recreation Director Jeff Reese was a little more blunt in his assessment of the current situation.

“Construction is at a screeching halt now,” Reese said. “All we’re doing is finishing up a punch list, some painting and other minor work out there. Everything else has been stopped because the money is depleted.”

If the SPLOST referendum is approved by Douglas County voters, Villa Rica stands to receive 3.25 percent, or about $2.7 million, of the one-cent sales tax that is projected to raise about $166 million over its six-year life. Of Villa Rica’s portion, $1 million each will be set aside for road projects and sewer projects, and $697,000 will be used for the Gold Mine Museum, which is located in the only city park on the Douglas County side of the city.

In Douglas County’s 2001 SPLOST, Villa Rica received less than 1 percent of the overall total because only a small portion of its population resided on the Douglas County side of the city.

However, in anticipation of this year’s SPLOST referendum, Douglas County used population projections of the Atlanta Regional Commission which showed that the city’s population in the county had grown substantially. During negotiations with the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, city officials argued that the ARC figures should be used because they provided a more fair assessment of the city’s current population in Douglas County.

“Our citizens here in Douglas County are paying the same tax rate countywide as everybody else, plus they pay the city taxes,” Wood said.

Villa Rica’s portion of the 2001 SPLOST was anticipated to be $600,000, but sales revenues were down and the city has only received about $479,000 - $14,000 for recreation, $82,000 for road improvements and $467,000 for sewer improvements that have yet to be completed.

“They revised it and brought it down because the revenues didn’t come in quite the way they wanted them to,” Wood said. “This (SPLOST referendum) is much larger than what it was in 2001.”

The majority of Douglas County’s proposed SPLOST, nearly 75 percent, is earmarked for a new jail, which is considered a “tier 1” project and as such will technically receive the initial sales revenues. However, the remaining portion will be divided among the cities of Villa Rica, Austell and Douglasville.

City officials caution that even if the SPLOST passes, revenues could come up short of projections if sales are down.

“That happens a lot of times, especially when the economy goes down,” Wood said.

Reese said, if approved, the SPLOST recreation funds will primarily be used to finish the inside of the museum building, as well as paving the parking lot, finishing the trail system and the mill pond. If the SPLOST fails, it could cost the city at least a year in construction time as officials wait on the normal budget process to play out.

But if the referendum is approved, the museum could open as early as late spring or early summer 2008.

“If it doesn’t pass, we’re looking at the normal budget process, which means it could probably take another two years,” Reese said.

Recreation officials already have a consultant lined up if the SPLOST passes to handle the interactive displays and exhibits. The consultant is the same person who created the displays in the Anniston, Ala., Museum of Natural History.

“We’re about 90 percent completed as far as build out is concerned,” Reese said. “What we lack is the interactive displays and the things that make it a museum. That kind of stuff takes money. I can’t build that. I can build a museum, put in floor tiles, paint and stuff like that, but when it comes to building high-tech, interactive displays, I just can’t do it.”