County spokesman Robert Quigley said the board has to meet the late September deadline so the county can start advertising public hearings to inform residents about potential projects the 2011 special purpose local option sales tax would fund.
If the board fails to meet the deadline, Quigley said the county would have to wait until May 2011 to vote to put the SPLOST on the Nov. 8, 2011, ballot, per General Assembly requirements. However, because revenues from SPLOSTs are collected six months after the vote, a March vote would ensure there is a continuous stream of revenue once the current six-year SPLOST ends and the 2011 SPLOST kicks in. A November vote would result in six months with no SPLOST funding.
The current SPLOST brings in an average of $131 million a year. Therefore, if the board puts off the vote until May, the county would potentially miss out on about $65 million in revenue.
But Cobb Chairman Tim Lee and Commissioner Bob Ott said the board has not yet taken a stance on a 2011 SPLOST and likely will not look into it until the fiscal year 2011 budget is presented Tuesday afternoon. Although the budget will not be voted on until Sept. 28, Lee said most of the work on balancing the budget has been completed and the board will likely begin focusing on the 2011 SPLOST later this week.
The board can expect pressure from most of Cobb's mayors to get the 2011 SPLOST on the ballot in March. Getting the 2011 SPLOST approved by voters and having no gaps in funding are crucial, said all local mayors, other than Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon. During fiscal year 2009, more than $24 million was allocated to the cities collectively to use for transportation improvement projects.
Cobb's mayors all said the SPLOST-funded, greatly needed transportation projects could never be done using the cities' general funds. Austell Mayor Joe Jerkins, for example, said the $11 million pedestrian bridge built in 1998 over the CSX railroad in downtown Austell was deeply necessary as "five people died there over five or six years." He said no fatalities have occurred at the site since the bridge's construction and it "never, ever could have been funded from our general fund."
But Bacon said he would have to see a list of projects the 2011 SPLOST would fund before deciding if he favors it. Bacon agreed, however, that SPLOST programs have been beneficial. He said if it weren't for SPLOSTs, "I'm not sure we would have had it in our budget" to fund past transportation projects in his city.
However, Bacon also said that if he had to choose, he would rather see the regional transportation SPLOST that will be put before voters in 2012 passed rather than another county SPLOST.
The entry of a regional transportation SPLOST on the November 2012 ballot was approved by state legislators earlier this year and will involve a total of 25 officials from 12 metro Atlanta counties and the city of Atlanta coming together to develop a list of projects to be funded through a 10-year, 1 percent sales tax. Most of the funding, 85 percent, will go toward regional projects, such as a rail system or the proposed Beltline project in Atlanta, while 15 percent would be allocated to the counties and cities for their own transportation projects. A majority vote throughout the metro region is needed to pass the SPLOST. So, essentially, Cobb residents could vote no, but it could still pass.
"I would be more in favor of the regional SPLOST because it moves people," Bacon said. "I think it would be tough to get it passed, but if it doesn't, I'm not sure how they're going to fund regional projects they've been putting off. We have to get away from the approach that any kind of regional transportation is for the neighbor, and it doesn't help us ... Folks may be getting tired of the SPLOST. But it is the best way to raise money, and if they're educated that the county and regional SPLOSTs are for two totally different things, I think it would have a better chance of passing."
But Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin said there is more security and flexibility in a local SPLOST. He said his city would like to build a new fire station with SPLOST funding at U.S. Highway 41 and Bells Ferry Road, which could happen with a local SPLOST, but not with the regional SPLOST. The regional SPLOST would be for transportation projects only.
"By sharing the dollars and ideas with the regional SPLOST, we do give up a lot of control on what happens in our county and cities," Tumlin said. "With the county SPLOST, the taxpayers know what they're going to get."
Tumlin said he is not against the regional SPLOST if the local SPLOST passes. However, he said the Atlanta Regional Commission is "driving the train on the regional SPLOST" - further fueling speculation that the ARC would push for the funding to be used to bring MARTA to Cobb and that the ARC does not want local jurisdictions to call for another local SPLOST in 2011 as they could hurt the chances of voters approving the regional SPLOST in 2012.
But ARC Chairman and Cobb resident Tad Leithead said the ARC is "not in a position to say yes or advocate for or against a tax." Although, Leithead said, the ARC would push for projects with a regional scope to be placed on a local SPLOST project list if it is presented to residents for a vote.
Leithead added that the passage of a county SPLOST in 2011, the regional SPLOST in 2012 and another local educational SPLOST in 2013, would still only equate to a one-penny increase in what residents pay currently. Though each SPLOST is a 1-cent per dollar sales tax, the county and education SPLOSTs would simply be a continuation of current collections.
Cobb Department of Transportation Director Faye DiMassimo said neither Lee nor county staff have asked the cities for their lists of projects they want funded with the new SPLOST, though "many of the cities have lists of projects ready to go for whenever we ask for them."
DiMassimo agreed with the majority of the mayors, saying the local SPLOST is "absolutely huge" for the cities and Cobb.
"If we do not get a county SPLOST, it will mean we'll be less able to meet our transportation needs, and you will definitely see negative impacts on congestion, traffic issues, ability to get to areas of safety concern in a timely manner, resurfacing, and preserving the roads we have that will always need improvements," DiMassimo said.
Tumlin said, "SPLOST money no longer is just extra. It's now essential - crucial. And if some of these roads aren't improved, that would not bode well for any of us."
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VISIONS start at the top - so far I've seen Faye's vision - a rail from cumberland mall down 41.
That vision wouldn't fly at my company! Hope it doesn't fly with Cobb voters.
We ALMOST all agree,...it's time to STOP the WASTEFUL spending!! It's time to catch up w/ other areas of metro Atlanta & the country. Our county needs desperately to map out a VISION for SMART growth! The resources are unlimited on the web- browse through sites on New Urbanism, Transit Oriented Development, Malls to Main Street,... on & on & on. Look @ what San Diego is doing along ite waterfront, or the Alvarado Center in new Mexico.
There are grants & funding available.
Cobb County- PUT a PLAN in place for all to see to invigorate Cobb Parkway- Start w/ removing the wall in front of Cumberland Mall- turn into greenspace & meeting area,.. have that greenspace stretch up 41 to Windy Hill Road. Get Smyrna OUT of their old ideas & help WANT & plan a streetcaped entertainment district along Cumberland Blvd. Include in that vision some office/work/live buildings visable from interstate! W/ the plan, begin to incorporate multimodal transportation center,.. get Marta up to the Cobb border,.. plan a street car along 41 that connects to the cities, the tech schools & KSU!
If dense deveopment begins,& pedistrian friendly projects start popping up on Cobb Parkway,... then the possibility for light rail will follow- (but NOT light rail first!!)
Work on funding to adress the interstate diaster @ Windy Hill, I-75/I-285 @ the same time!
Just PLEASE plan INTELLIGENTLY & spend RESPONSIBLY ! GIVE us something to be excited about that the community can be involved with & get behind!
If you are not in favor of a new SPLOST or LOST, then vote against it. It's just that simple. The voters of Cobb County voted heavily in favor of the last SPLOST. If they don't want it this time, they will vote against it.
Oh and by the way, Cobb County's Sales tax rate is one of the lowest in the state. WITH the LOST and SPLOST in place.
Ditto for the transportation SPLOST passed in Sept. 2005. I find that many of the transportation projects are marginal at best -- getting 4 cars in a turn lane instead of 3. (In some cases, business chains have threatened lawsuits to prevent turn lanes being added, as they will lose some of their parking lots. So, Cobb taxpayers have paid for more money to be wasted!)
Tim Lee, Bob Ott and the other three commissioners WILL try to continue their cocaine addiction by selling us on the NEED -- rather than their preference -- for more transportation projects. We will always have more needs than we have money! Get used to it. That's what always happens in our household -- and we don't have the benefit of a special 1% extra for five years at a time!!! The Cobb Commissioners need to ask the voters BEFORE they even attempt to put a costly election (about $600,000 for a county-wide voting day) on the ballot!!(More money wasted if a vote is held and it is not passed.) Wake up, Cobb taxpayers!!!
TO MK - they don't just watch the cars go by - Really?? THINK will you!
If the county and city govts. want a SPLOST, there sould be strict rules to verify that the money is used for promised projects. There are none now and no penalties for not using the money properly and responsibly.
You can verify this through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG).
These two groups can tell you that there are no
legal repercussions for politicians not keeping their word about how SPLOST money is handled, unless a citizen files a lawsuit.
The only thing looking good anywhere these days are all the roads being repaved when they don't need it. Cobb pols need to get fiscally "real" and put down the SPLOST crack pipe.
There has been NOTHING done along Windy Hill Road to help move this traffic through here. Windy Hill already backs up bumper to bumper during morning & evening rush hour. Concord & Spring Roads have gotten noticeably more overcrowded over the last several years. Smyrna is in the process of buying Concord Road houses w/ SPLOST2005 money & tearing them down leaving more unsightly EMPTY lots. There is no information on the Smyrna website about this (sidewalk/median)project. I suppose it helps make the empty lots of Belmont Hills & Jonquil Plaza not stand out as much.
I would sure like to know where the 5.5 MILLION came from that build the swanky new sparkling (Transportation Video Room) for Cobb County officials to monitor their backed up highways & interstates!
I will not support another SPLOST w/out a guarantee that the Cobb leaders?? will be responsible w/ the money & help pull our county OUT of the traffic nightmare we are experiencing!
We have had SPLOST crammed down out throats over and over, enough is enough.
We still have trailers at schools when the first SPLOST was supposed to remove them, we have 4 lane roads that dump into 2 lanes, we now have turn lanes that hold 5 cars instead of 3. This is not a major improvement. We were promised sidewalks on Canton Hwy, but now we have bits and pieces just like the rest of the county, sidewalks to no where.
NO more SPLOST!!!!!
More Taxes Are Now Essential??? Spoken like a true liberal socialist. This is what happens when you vote for a 1% sales tax or special SPLOST tax. The money isn't a one time extra income to solve a problem. It becomes an ongoing necessity because governments are wasting "OUR" money. All I see is construction everywhere. I am not sure what these projects are for? What about all the gasoline taxes that we are hit with per gallon. Isn't that supposed to take care of our transportation needs? No more taxes!! Don't you people in office get it!! If SPLOST is implemented than I want our gas prices to go down about 45 cents a gallon. This is the amount the state tacks per gallon in taxes to pay for transportation costs. It is very simple...trade one for another...you can't have both taxes!!!