COBB - Tonight's Cobb County Board of Commissioners meeting will include a public hearing on the county's proposed budget, a presentation of proposed changes to the county's code regarding sign ordinances, a proposed decrease in the 2005 Transportation Improvements Program and approval of phase II of construction on Jiles Road in Kennesaw.

The budget, which was presented at last week's board meeting, shows an approximate 5 percent cut from last year's budget. However, no jobs will be lost and taxes will not be raised as a result of the cuts. After the board hears public comments on the proposed budget, it will then be up for approval at the next board meeting.

Certain changes will be proposed to the county's code, specifically in the areas of electronic signs and billboards. Cobb County outlawed any further construction of billboards in 1988, and no additional billboards have been built since, said Rob Hosack, director of Cobb County Community Development Agency and American Institute of Certified Planners. He said businesses would face stricter codes with the proposed code amendments on the level of brightness of electronic signs outside of local businesses, as well as the frequency they can change.

"We'll also basically be trying to incentivize businesses to tear down billboards that may not be needed by allowing them to build one electronic billboard in exchange for removing three existing billboards," Hosack said.

The proposed budget for this year's Transportation Improvements Program, which began in 2005 and is funded by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, is projected to be almost $67 million less than previously approved. The county has built up a savings of $15 million in bids, however, so the total amount cut in deferred projects comes out to almost $42 million. The original budget was $730,559,366 while the current August 2009 proposed budget is $663,718,789.

Director of Cobb Department of Transportation David Montana said that the smaller budget is the result of consumers buying less, which in turn brings less money into the SPLOST fund.

"This is a six-year program, and twice a year I go before the board to ask them to approve the amended budget," Montana said. "The finance department has analyzed the SPLOST fund for the past 18 months and, while the projections were actually less than what was coming in at the beginning of the program, the past 18 months have shown a large decrease in funding, so a list of projects the board will be given are put on deferred status."

Some of the larger projects on the list that the board will receive tonight include work on Bells Ferry Road, Lower Roswell Road and Windy Hill Road.

As a portion of the 2005 TIP that will not be cut, phase II of construction on Jiles Road will also be up for approval. Phase I is currently under construction with a scheduled completion date of May 25, 2010 and includes widening and reconstruction of Jiles Road from Wade Green Road to the bridge over the CSX railroad. Phase II will include the construction of a new bridge parallel to the existing bridge over the railroad, which will hold two eastbound lanes and a sidewalk. The existing bridge will become two westbound lanes.

Construction will then continue with widening and reconstructing Jiles Road from the new bridge to Cobb Parkway. Tanner Contracting won the project with a bid of $693,517.82, which will be pulled from the 2005 TIP fund.