Floyd County Commission Chairman Eddie Lumsden visited the Seven Hills Rotary Club meeting Tuesday to talk about an important issue coming up for Georgia voters: regional transportation sales tax funding.

Specifically, Lumsden’s presentation explained the process by which local governments will get road construction money, if the 1-cent tax is approved in a 2012 election.

The potential wish list is still a work in progress.

“We are in the final phase of the process,” said Lums­den. “We have a meeting scheduled for (today) for the executive committee of the regional roundtable. That meeting’s primary purpose is to bring the constrained list to a final form.”

Lumsden said he thinks the idea makes sense.

“It seems to me the facts are pretty straightforward. The state has said this is the way that we’re going to do transportation funding as we go forward, and you can either participate in it and reap the benefits or not participate in it and there will be some consequences,” he said.

The new plan lets each of 12 regions around the state vote on a transportation sales tax. If approved, the money would go to specific projects that a roundtable of regional representatives have presented as a package.

The package would be funded with 75 percent of the revenue collected, with the remaining 25 percent divided among localities in the region for projects being completed by local governments.

According to the plan, the state Department of Transportation will still be responsible for project delivery.

“Since this is done on a regional basis, the potential does exist for some regions that don’t pass it to have the type of accessibility and the type of traffic flow they might otherwise have if they were to embrace it,” Lumsden said.

The roundtable meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission office on Jackson Hill.

Lumsden said the constrained list — which includes projects like the U.S. 411 Connector to Interstate 75 and the widening of Ga. 140 — will have to be approved by the roundtable before it goes to voters.

Two other proposed projects of local interest include the proposed southeast bypass around Rome and reconstruction of Ga. 101 into Polk County for better access to Rockmart, Lumsden said.

“That’s subject to further review,” he said. “We’ll have some additional numbers from the state that could put an additional project or two on the list. We’ll just have to wait and see what those numbers look like.”