The office is located at 2932 Canton Road, in the Market Plaza Shopping Center (just north of the Piedmont Road intersection).
The closure begins next Wednesday, July 25, with reopening in the fall. A specific date hasn’t been mentioned.
If you use that office and need tag services during the renovations, alternate locations include the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).
Other tag offices are at 4700 Austell Road, 3858 Kemp Ridge Road and 700 South Cobb Drive, as well as self-serve kiosks at the Austell Road and South Cobb Road locations and the Kroger at 3240 South Cobb Drive.
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A proposed Cobb property tax increase prompted some feisty comments from citizens Tuesday night at a public hearing before county commissioners.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she and her colleagues “are still looking at everything” while deciding on the FY 2019 Cobb budget. (East Cobb News file photo)
A good number of those speaking were East Cobb citizens, both in favor of a millage rate increase and against it.
Commissioners also offered extended comments the week before they have to approve a fiscal year 2019 general fund budget and millage rate.
“It’s very close right now,” said JoAnn Birrell, who represents District 3 in Northeast Cobb and who said she is reading everything she gets from citizens on the budget. “I’m hearing you.”
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce is proposing a $453 million budget, a hike of nearly 13 percent from the current $405 million FY 2018 budget.
Some citizens suggested a smaller tax increase than his proposed hike of 1.7 mills, which would yield close to $50 million in new revenues.
Boyce’s budget (click for PDF version here) would restore some services to pre-recession levels, including partial Sunday library hours and for Cobb DOT maintenance. It also would fund new police officer positions and purchase body cameras for public safety personnel.
The FY 2019 budget deficit was projected to be $30 million at the current 6.76 mills. Last week, Boyce concluded a series of town hall meetings around the county at the Sewell Mill Library, and his budget proposal got mixed reviews there.
On Tuesday, citizens brought up Braves stadium financing, the county employee pension plan, transit, non-profit funding and other spending and budget issues.
East Cobb residents Jan Barton and Debbie Fisher, vocal opponents of a tax increase, pointed out that the 1.7-mills increase is to pay for the current FY 2018 budget, not the new budget that takes effect in September.
“Would you prepay your credit card with $47 million for what you’re going to get next year?” Fisher asked, showing a graphic claiming that the increase would pay for “slush funds and uncontrolled spending.”
She said that no more than an additional 0.23 mills in property tax revenues is needed.
“Animal control, parks and libraries, we all love those,” Fisher said, in reference to categories of possible spending cuts that have been made public. “But I’m not a one-issue voter.”
Northeast Cobb resident Larry Long, who lives in the Mountain View area and is member of Cobb Master Gardeners, supports a tax increase, saying it’s an investment in the county’s future.
“We’ve invested our tax money wisely,” he said. “I don’t want us to go backwards.”
Sarah Mitchell, president of the Mountain View Arts Alliance, said The Art Place is heavily used, including its theater facilities for CenterStage North productions, but still doesn’t have Friday hours due to pre-recession cutbacks.
“It’s hard to sell tickets if you’re closed on Friday,” she said.
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said getting months of budget input from the public “makes us do our job better.” (East Cobb News file photo)
Thea Powell of Northeast Cobb, a former county commissioner, referred to some of the information presented at the town hall meetings as a “dog’s breakfast.”
Powell is Boyce’s appointee to the Cobb Planning Commission and served with him on a Cobb Citizen’s Oversight commission that made some budget recommendations in 2012.
However, she was piqued by a part of the “Cobb’s Budget Journey: How We Got Here” presentation related to “unexpected expenses” in county spending outlined in 2014.
The funding of SunTrust Park, approved the year before that, was “not unexpected,” she said. For that and other reasons, she said, the presentation should be renamed “How You Brought Us Here!”
Fran Mitchell, a longtime East Cobb resident, was adamantly against a tax increase, saying “I would like to see some cuts before you decide to raise the millage rate.” She asked commissioners to “make us fiscally responsible again.”
Judi Wilcher, president of of the Cobb Association of Realtors, said a tax increase is necessary “to maintain our quality of life.” She proposed an increase that’s “closer to 1.1 mills” and that would include some library consolidations and reducing five percent of the county work force over three years through attrition.
An increase between those two figures appears to be likely when commissioners finalize the budget. Boyce, of East Cobb, can count on South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who emphatically argued that a 1.7-mills hike didn’t go far enough.
Bob Ott, of District 2 in East Cobb, has wanted to see more spending cuts proposed. At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, he said “I have a concern about going all the way to 1.7.”
Birrell, who said the budget can’t be balanced on spending cuts alone, expressed a similar sentiment. “A compromise is going to be the best solution,” she said.
North Cobb commissioner Bob Weatherford, who is in a Republican runoff next Tuesday against Keli Gambrill, a tax-increase opponent, said that a figure between 1.1 mills and 1.7 mills “is where we ought to be.”
The final millage rate and budget hearings are next Wednesday at 7 p.m., followed by adoption.
“We’re not done yet,” Boyce said. “We hear you.”
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A partial summary of the proposed fiscal year Cobb government budget presented on Tuesday (continues below).
Just hours after a feisty town hall meeting in East Cobb, citizens continued to sound off Tuesday as Cobb tax millage rate public hearings got underway this week.
On Tuesday morning, several East Cobb citizens were among those urging the Cobb Board of Commissioners to raise the general fund property tax rate to preserve and enhance libraries in particular, as well as parks and other public services.
One of them was Abby Shiffman, chairwoman of the Cobb Library Board of Trustees. She was at the Monday town hall at the Sewell Mill Library, and in reference to opponents of a tax increase, said “do not believe what you’re reading by misinformed people on social media” about commission chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills increase.
On Wednesday morning, the Cobb Board of Education also held a public hearing as it officially sets its millage rate this month.
No citizens showed up for that, and the hearing ended after only 20 minutes, following a brief presentation by Cobb County School District finance chief Brad Johnson.
While the school board isn’t proposing a millage rate increase—it’s holding the line at 18.9 mills—additional property tax revenue for the school system means it’s required to hold three public hearings (FY 2019 Cobb schools budget info here).
Two more will take place next Thursday at noon and at 6:30 p.m., followed by millage rate adoption at the board’s business meeting the same day at 7 p.m.
Cobb commissioners also will have two more scheduled public hearings, July 17 at 6:30 p.m., and on July 25 at 7 p.m. Commissioners are set to adopt the budget on July 25.
To be precise, commissioners are holding two separate hearings—one for the millage rate, and one for the budget, since both have yet to be adopted.
The Cobb government budget would grow by 9.7 percent from the current fiscal year 2018 (continued from the top).
Georgia law requires the public hearings if either the millage rate or property tax revenue (or both) increases from the previous year. Millage rates also have to be formally adopted for local governments and school districts to receive tax revenues.
Here’s a detailed PDF of the proposed Cobb FY 2019 budgetthat includes departmental and other breakdowns and forecasts into fiscal year 2020.
While most of the speakers at Tuesday’s commission public hearings were in favor of the millage rate increase (which would add $50 million to the general fund), some were opposed, or expressed concern about the size of the proposed tax increase.
Ron Sifen of the Cumberland/Vinings area said “that’s a big increase. You’re really hitting the reset button on spending” by boosting general fund expenditures from $403 million to $454 million.
Alicia Adams of Americans for Prosperity also asked commissioners to reject a tax hike. “Cobb homeowners have been taxed enough,” she said.
The supporters included those supporting the UGA Cobb Extension and Cobb parks as well as Save Cobb Libraries.
Mike Smith, an East Cobb citizen, said the proposed increase is “a fair price to pay” for public services. He lives in District 2, where commissioner Bob Ott has been skeptical of a tax increase. Ott was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, as he represented the county at a technology conference.
“Somebody needs on the commission needs to get to Mr. Ott,” Smith said. “I wish he were here today.”
Shiffman, who was appointed a library trustee by Ott, told the other four commissioners to “do what your constituents want, not what you feel you may want.”
She feared that “if this increase does not pass, there will be cuts.”
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Your November election ballot will include a Cobb brunch bill referendum that would expand Sunday alcoholic beverage service at restaurants and hotels.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 on Tuesday on its consent agenda to put the referendum on the ballot. The question, if approved by voters, would allow service from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sundays (here’s resolution information).
Here’s the language that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Currently restaurants and hotels in Georgia cannot serve alcohol before 12:30 p.m. on Sundays. Cobb has allowed Sunday restaurant and hotel alcohol sales since 1982.
The Georgia legislature this year approved SB 17, the so-called “brunch bill,” that was signed by Gov. Nathan Deal (here’s the legislation). It allows local governments to hold referendums to give the final say to voters on whether restaurants, hotels and wineries can serve alcohol on premises as early as 11 a.m. on Sundays.
Eligible restaurants must derive at least 50 percent of their annual gross sales from food, and hotels must generate at least 50 percent of their annual gross income from room rentals for overnight lodging.
The brunch bill does not apply to retail sales, such as package stores, convenience stores and supermarkets.
At Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, Karen Bremer, executive director of the Georgia Restaurant Association, said the brunch bill “levels the playing field” for restaurants. She said venues under state government auspices, such as the former Georgia Dome and Lake Lanier Islands, have had the latitude to set their own Sunday pouring hours.
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Cobb water bills will rise by an average of about $5 a month for residential customers after Cobb commissioners approved a rate increase on Tuesday.
The vote was 3-1, and the new rates will take effect on Sept. 1.
The bill for a homeowner consuming around 4,700 gallons a month will rise from $48.33 a month to $53.13 a month, according to calculations made by the Cobb County Water System (agenda item here).
Steven McCullers, the county water system director, said Cobb hasn’t had a rate increase since 2012. Since then, water purchase costs have risen by around 25 percent, and other operating costs also have gone up.
Water system revenues for the present year are around $220 million, but expenses are $239 million.
At a commissioners budget retreat in June, McCullers told commissioners that Cobb’s current rate structure is “not competitive,” and that the current level of service is “not sustainable” with the present rate structure.
County officials have said Cobb still has one of the lowest water rates in metro Atlanta even with the increase.
But Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell, the only vote against raising water rates, said she could not support an increase as long as Cobb continues to transfer 10 percent of water system revenues into the general fund.
Around $22 million in water revenues were transferred for county operations for the current fiscal year.
East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott was not present at Tuesday’s meeting. He was out of town representing the county at a technology conference.
The commission’s vote also includes changes in how water system development fees are calculated.
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Mike Boyce he wants Cobb to return to a more stabilized millage rate that existed before the recession: “Let’s just get to one number and leave it alone.” East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker
In his final town hall meeting, Mike Boyce told East Cobb citizens Monday night that his proposed Cobb tax increase of 1.7 mills is necessary because it “keeps everything open that’s open now” and would restore some popular and necessary services to their pre-recession levels.
In a packed black box studio at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, the Cobb commission chairman received a mixed response for his call to return Cobb to “the golden days” of a stable millage rate before the recession and provide the level of services worthy of what he has called a “five-star county.”
He wants to use the 1.7 mills not only to cover a projected $30 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2019, but to add another $20 million for resumption of services that have been affected by budget cuts for several years.
“What is it that you want pay for, what you used to have and that you want again?” he asked the crowd, drawing some applause.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold the first of three required public hearings on the tax increase proposal Tuesday at 9 a.m. It’s on the second floor of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
Monday’s meeting was the seventh budget town hall Boyce has held around the county over the last month, and like the others he asked citizens to let their commissioners know their budget priorities.
His proposed $454 million FY 2019 budget is a 12 percent increase over the current $405 million budget, and would raise the general fund millage rate from 6.76 to 8.46 mills.
Boyce wants to spend an additional $15 million for public safety, including the hiring of 23 police officers and providing officers with body cameras.
He would expand library hours to Sunday at select locations and restore hours to what they were before the recession.
He also wants to restore maintenance positions in Cobb DOT, including the hiring of mowers for rights-of-way on county roads. Currently those are positions that are contracted out for six months, but bringing them under county auspices would allow for year-round work.
In the run-up to the town halls, staff department head lists of potential cuts for commissioners to consider were made public, and quickly galvanized supporters of the county library and parks systems.
Those items included Fullers Park, the home of East Side Baseball, and the Fullers Recreation Center, where East Marietta Basketball is based.
Members of the Cobb Master Gardeners have been vocal in asking to preserve the UGA Cobb Extension Service.
Richard Benson, a coach, volunteer and board member of East Side Baseball, brought several members of the East Side Chargers team with him, and wearing their same jersey, told Boyce that “I can’t fathom the thought that they might not have a place to play baseball.”
Boyce said the list was only a “working product,” and that “I know of no commissioner who wanted to close a park at anytime.”
Not only are current parks facilities all preserved in Boyce’s budget, he told the audience, to applause, that “we don’t have enough parks.”
Also in attendance, wearing light green shirts, were members of the Cobb Master Gardeners, who work closely with the UGA Cobb Extension Service, which had been initially targeted for possible closure but is funded in Boyce’s budget proposal.
Tax increase opponents also were out in force, and some demanded that Boyce point to spending cuts to help alleviate the deficit. Only one slide presented savings thus far, a combined $1.7 million.
Boyce said his budget staff is continuing to do that. “We’re not done finding efficiencies,” he said.
East Cobb citizen Debbie Fisher, a strong opponent of a tax increase.
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, who was not at Monday’s town hall in his District 2, has said he wants to see significant budget cuts before he would agree to any kind of tax increase.
He did attend a public meeting held Friday by opponents, including Debbie Fisher and Jan Barton of East Cobb. They handed out flyers on Monday from the Georgia Taxpayers Association, a petition to “cut wasteful spending and property taxes.”
Fisher inquired about what she claimed was $106 million in excess funding from the 2005 and 2011 Cobb SPLOSTs, but Boyce told her “there’s nothing left.” It got a little heated when she asked why she couldn’t find any related documents online. Boyce said she was welcome to come to county offices anytime.
In a post-town hall letter, Barton, who previously tried to raise the same point with Boyce but was passed over, wrote the following:
“We felt that citizens with dissenting questions/opinions against the tax hike were not allowed to ask questions in Town Halls and wanted to give everyone a forum where the other side of the story could be explained. A Town Hall is supposed to be for all citizens/taxpayers.”
After the town hall, Benson said he felt better about what he heard from Boyce about the parks, and that he’s been communicating with commissioners about keeping them open.
East Cobb resident Rachel Slomovitz, who created the Save Cobb Libraries group and started a petition to raise taxes that she said has received more than 2,100 signatures, said after the town hall that “there’s still so much uncertainty in the air.”
While she supports Boyce’s budget and commissioner Lisa Cupid’s call for restoring services, she’s still “strongly encouraging” the three other commissioners as well.
“We’re asking for books and baseball,” she said, pointing toward the East Side Chargers players. “The basics.”
Commissioners will hold public hearings on July 17 and 25, with budget adoption also scheduled for July 25.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce wants a 1.7 mills property tax increase to cover a projected $30 million deficit. (East Cobb News file photo)
The details of the fiscal year 2019 Cobb budget proposal will be made at a Cobb Board of Commissioners work session on Monday, with a final town hall meeting Monday night in East Cobb.
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce has taken the outlines of his proposed $453 million budget around the county to the public in the last month. Monday’s work session starts at 1:30 p.m., followed by his final town hall meeting at 7 p.m. at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road).
The county has produced an interactive, Cobb’s Budget Journey, to detail the deficit, as well as spending and tax rate history over nearly three decades.
Boyce is proposing a general fund property tax increase of 1.7 mills, which would cover the $30 million gap.
Critics of the tax increase held a town hall meeting of their own Friday, and they included East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher, who put together a scathing critique of Boyce’s budget. Click here for the PDF: Town Hall Presentation -Revised.
Entitled “Truth or Fiction,” the PDF points out that Boyce hasn’t proposed any spending cuts and denounces what it calls the “homestead exemption blame game.”
It also suggests some “hard choices” that include cutting the 5-10 percent of low-performing county employees, outsource fleet management, human resources and the county attorney’s office and increase employee health care and pension contributions.
“We don’t have a revenue problem! We have a spending problem,” declares the presentation. “No more taxes until you cut spending.”
On Tuesday, commissioners will hold the first of three required public hearings on the budget, at 9 a.m. in their chambers on the 2nd floor of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
The other public hearings are scheduled on July 17 at 6:30 p.m., and on July 25 at 7 p.m., in the same location. Commissioners are set to adopt the budget on July 25.
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A Cobb greenways and trails master plan that would include extensions of the existing Johnson Ferry Trail and Noonday Creek Trail in East Cobb was approved last week by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The master plan, developed by Cobb DOT after more than a year of open houses and public feedback sessions, is the first for the county, and features the following components:
increasing connectivity between existing trails;
having trails in all six Cobb cities;
having 92 percent of all existing county parks within a mile of a trail;
having 57 percent of Cobb’s total population also within a mile of a trail.
The master plan also calls for eight “priority trail” projects, including the Johnson Ferry and Noonday Creek trails.
The Noonday Creek extension would cover 3.6 miles almost to the Cherokee County line, at an estimated cost between $11.1 million and $12.2 million.
The approval of the Cobb greenways and trails master plan does not include any additional funding for any projects that may be developed. Those matters would be taken up separately.
The commissioners also were briefed last week about the recommendations for a new Cobb parks master plan for 2018-2028, but there wasn’t a vote taken.
The proposed “investment” over that 10-year period, by a design firm hired to do a master plan study, comes to $239.8 million. The majority of the recommended spending, around $158 million, would be for new facilities and green space development. Another $80 million would be for maintenance of existing facilities.
the creation of an administrative services division;
the creation of a park maintenance plan;
the adoption of a comprehensive revenue policy;
enhanced branding and marketing to help generate revenues;
establishing a rental system for pavilion use;
increasing user fees;
expanded programming for fee generation;
assessing a per-participant maintenance fee;
increase staffing of Cobb Police Park Ranger staff.
Approval of the master plan was put on hold due to questions from commissioners. Approval makes it a “working document” for the county, but funding and spending issues are done in a separate process.
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A group of Cobb citizens opposed to a proposed property tax increase is holding a town hall meeting Friday night in Marietta that’s called “Cobb Budget 101.”
The group includes East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher, and the town hall takes place from 6:30-8:30 Friday at the offices of the Cobb County Republican Party (799 Roswell St.).
It’s not an official Cobb GOP event. Here’s what Jan Barton, another East Cobber involved in efforts to thwart a tax increase, is sending out about the event:
A group of concerned Cobb citizens will present Cobb Budget 101, a different road map from the one presented by the Cobb County Chairman. We will make a case on what caused the purported $30M deficit, how we can remedy the shortfall without a tax increase and present the real history on the Millage Vs. the Tax Digest! There will be a Q&A with budget and finance experts on a panel to answer your questions.
They’ve been vocally opposed to Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills increase in the general fund to solve a projected $30 million budget. Boyce and county budget staff have produced a Cobb Budget Journey interactive that has been featured at a series of town hall meetings and posted on county government web pages.
The final town hall Boyce is having is in East Cobb on Monday, starting at 7 p.m. at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road.)
The first of three formal Cobb Board of Commissioners public hearings on the budget proposal required by law takes place on Tuesday.
Budget adoption is scheduled for July 25.
Here’s Boyce’s latest budget video, posted on Tuesday.
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From Cobb County government, issued around 10 a.m. today:
WATER UPDATE – A large broken water main in the Quarles Water Treatment Plant on Lower Roswell Road is resulting in low water pressure across a wide swath of East Cobb. Crews are working on it.
County spokesman Ross Cavitt, around 11 a.m., added this update:
System has been repressurized after break at Quarles Treatment plant. Any customers who see discolored water should run their cold water until it is gone. Contractor working at the plant apparently caused the break, which is being repaired.
We’ll provide more updates as they become available.
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The Cobb tax digest total for this year is better than initially projected.
Stephen White, the Cobb County Tax Assessor, has announced that it’s a record $36.7 billion for 2018, and was approved Thursday by the Board of Tax Assessors.
The tax digest is the taxable value of all commercial and residential property. White said this year’s digest is a nine percent increase over 2017, which was a record $33.6 billion.
“The increase in the tax digest sends a great message to all business owners and property owners,” White said in a statement issued by the county. “The message is that your investment is doing well. We are a desired county for real estate and this is a very strong real estate market we are in.”
Earlier this year tax digest growth of 7.5 percent was predicted, just as county officials were preparing to address a projected fiscal year 2019 budget deficit of at least $30 million.
That’s just a little bit more than this year’s value of the floating homestead exemption. That exemption freezes the taxable value of a home as it pertains to general fund portion of a tax bill.
The floating exemption total this year is $28.4 million, a savings for residential property owners, but as the county noted in a release this morning, “that exemption means the county’s general fund will not fully reap the benefits of the growth in the tax digest.”
In Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce”s proposed FY 2019 budget of $453 million, the homestead exemption total would rise to $35.6 million. He’s seeking a 1.7 mills increase in the general fund.
Boyce has been holding budget town hall meetings around the county, and they will conclude on July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
Budget adoption and setting of the millage rate is scheduled for July 25.
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The county has acquired the Tritt property in green, a total of 29.7 acres on Roswell Road.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to spend $8.3 million to buy some of the Tritt property next to East Cobb Park.
It was a 3-0 vote (with commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Lisa Cupid absent) to purchase 22 acres from Wylene Tritt with proceeds from the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond referendum. She’s donating 7.7 acres and the Friends for the East Cobb Park is donating around $102,000 as part of the acquisition.
The vote was greeted with applause and cheers from the audience, including members of the Cobb Parks Coalition, who pressed for the funding of the bond that commissioners finally approved last year.
However, commissioners funded only $27 million of the original $40 million amount that voters approved 10 years ago, due to legal reasons in the referendum’s payment schedule.
Before the vote, Roberta Cook, active with the Cobb Parks Coalition, spoke during the public comment, bringing a tin cup as a reminder to commissioners that “the $40 million cup is still not full.”
“We are thankful for the Tritt property acquisition and look forward,” she said, to securing the remaining $12.5 million “that will fill up the cup.”
After the vote, Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, whose District 2 includes the Tritt property, saluted Cook and Jennifer Burke of the Friends for Tritt Park. He set a large decorative stein before him, saying it was “my cup” for the Tritt Park.
For now, the newly acquired land will remain as green space. It’s the only land in District 2, which includes most of East Cobb, that was purchased with the parks bond funding.
With that sale, all of the $27 million has been spent. The Tritt parcel was not on the original list of possible property for possible purchase.
Tritt had sued the county in 2016 after her attempt to sell the land to a developer, Isakson Living, for a senior living complex was thwarted due to a rezoning denial. That case was later dropped, and the county entered into lengthy negotiations with her about a sale for park land.
The reason this park is going to be realized, Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said, “is because the board agreed to change the list.
“Every one of these commissioners cares passionately about the county,” and not just his or her district. “Because they do that, we’re going to have this property.”
Ott said the first discussions the county had with about Tritt for the land came when Sam Olens was chairman, and continued with his successor, Tim Lee.
But the bond approved by voters in 2008 was not funded then due to the recession.
During the Isakson Living zoning case, East Cobb citizens opposed to that development urged the county to buy the entirety of the 53-acre Tritt land, which reportedly was valued at $20 million.
That was before the bond was finally funded last year. Boyce, who campaigned on providing the funding in his 2016 election victory over Lee, said at times he wished he hadn’t, given the difficulty of some of the negotiations.
Commissioner Bob Weatherford said that “I’ve never worked as hard as I did on these park properties. It’s not as easy as you might think, when you have $27 million and want to buy something.”
Burke said she and her group are “very excited” to have what is being called for now as Tritt Park “for our children and grandchildren.”
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From L-R: Marietta schools superintendent Grant Rivera; Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce; and Cobb schools superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
Thanks to Nan Kiel of the Cobb County School District for the submitted photo and information about the extension of the Cobb Library PASS system, which took place earlier this week.
It’s a partnership between the CCSD, Marietta City Schools, and the Cobb County Public Library System that enables public school students to use county library system resources with their school IDs. After a pilot period that began in January, the agreement will continue into 2020.
Cobb students no longer need an extra card to access the digital and print resources in the county’s libraries. The new Library PASS initiative, or Public Library Access for Student Success, links K-12 student identification numbers to the new Cobb County PASS accounts.
The Library PASS program, which launched in January 2018, allows students to access library resources from home, the classroom, or in person at a Cobb library. Currently, there are more than 116,000 CCSD students registered with PASS accounts.
During a ceremony at the Switzer Library in Marietta on June 20, CCSD Superintendent Chris Ragsdale; Chairman Mike Boyce, Cobb County Board of Commissioners; and Superintendent Grant Rivera, Marietta City Schools, signed a memorandum of agreement to extend the Library PASS partnership for two years.
Chairman Boyce applauded the commitment and dedication of the three organizations in coming together to change lives by making more educational resources available to students in Cobb County.
“When we have partnerships like this, it shows that the focus in Cobb County is very high onprioritizing education,” said Superintendent Ragsdale. “It is very important to us to make sure thatresources are available to not only students but also parents. To have partnerships like this with the library system is very important. All the resources that we can tap into, that our students and staff cantap into, benefit the goal of student success.”
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Wylene Tritt has lived on former family farmland along Roswell Road since 1950. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
More than half of the 53-acre Tritt property that adjoins East Cobb Park on Roswell Road is set to be purchased by Cobb County and preserved as green space.
Cobb commissioners are scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a proposal to acquire 29.7 acres of land owned by Wylene Tritt for a cost of $8.3 million. The funding would come from the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond referendum, inlcuding last year’s $24.7 million in supplemental bond funds.
The proposed contract states that the purchase is for 22 of the acres; Tritt is donating the rest to the county as part of the deal. The Friends for the East Cobb Park, a non-profit citizens group, is donating $102,000 for the land acquisition, according to documents included in Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
The land that would be acquired by the county (noted in green in map provided below by Cobb County) would be adjacent to East Cobb Park and at the back of the Tritt property line.
According to information released late Thursday afternoon by Cobb government, the Friends for the East Cobb Park will begin a fundraising drive to purchase the rest of the Tritt property (noted in white, including the Tritt residence) and for future enhancements to the park.
“The chance to purchase some of the Tritt Property is an exciting opportunity and it would preserve a pristine part of Cobb County that could be enjoyed for generations to come,” District 2 Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said in a statement.
“I want to thank Mrs. Tritt for her willingness to work with the county. District 2 has the least amount of available land for parks and this is a significant contribution to the neighbors who have been asking us to look at this property for years.”
Tritt, who’s in her 80s, tried to sell her entire property several years ago for a reported $20 million for the development of a senior living complex. Isakson Living’s purchase of the land was contingent on rezoning, but Cobb commissioners denied the request in 2015 after strong community opposition to a project some considered too dense for the area.
Isakson Living, which is led by the son and brother of U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, sued the county, but legal action was dropped in 2016. The developer cancelled its contract with Tritt, whose family once held vast farmland in the East Cobb area.
While the Isakson Living case was proceeding, a citizens group was formed called Concerned Citizens of East Cobb, which advocated keeping the Tritt property park land. That effort extended into the formation of Friends of Tritt Park, which sought to gauge public interest in raising money to buy the land.
Doug Rohan, a resident of the Sadlers Walk neighborhood adjacent to the Tritt property, has been involved with both groups and opposed the Isakson living proposal.
He told East Cobb News that “we are thrilled at the prospect and we feel this plan is a very responsible approach to the fiscal interests of the county, the financial needs of the Tritt family, and the public interest that this project has generated.
“It seems like a win/win/win and we are hopeful it proceeds according to plan. We will continue to monitor the progress and we plan to attend the meeting next week to make sure this goes through.”
Cobb’s proposed purchase of the Tritt property comes as commissioners are set to tackle an anticipated $30 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 and that could include the possible closing of parks and recreational facilities included on draft lists.
Cobb also is building new parks, including Mabry Park under construction on Wesley Chapel Road. On Saturday, the county is holding a public viewing for recently purchased land on Ebenezer Road in Northeast Cobb that will be developed into a passive park.
Tritt, the aunt of country music star Travis Tritt, moved with her late husband Norris to the property in 1950. He inherited what had been 80 acres of farmland from his aunt, Odessa Tritt Lassiter, and gradually sold off portions to nearby families.
Some of the land was sold to the Bowles family, which in turn sold that land. The property included 13 acres that formed the original boundaries of East Cobb Park, which opened in 1998.
In her will, Lassiter insisted that the trees on her property be preserved, and that “no timber is to be cut off either place except for building and repairs on those farms.”
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An overflow crowd at the East Cobb Senior Center heard Mike Boyce defend his proposed fiscal year 2019 budget of $453 million that would result in a Cobb tax increase.
The Cobb commission chairman’s goal, as he asserted several times during a nearly 90-minute town hall meeting Monday night, is to return to a “level, sustainable millage rate” the county enjoyed before the recession.
He said his proposed increase of 1.7 mills as part of revised budget from an original proposed hike of 1.1 mills, would generate $50 million in additional revenue per year.
Not only would that solve the projected $30 million budget deficit for FY 2019, but it would also replenish reserve funding commissioners have used in recent years to avoid a tax hike.
Cobb government included this tax chart in its revised budget proposal last week.
Several weeks after possible closures of libraries, parks and other “desired” services were made public, Boyce denied threatening to close any of those facilities.
But he said if his fellow commissioners couldn’t agree at least to an extra 1.1 mills, “we will close things. But that’s up to the commissioners.”
After urging citizens to communicate with their commissioners about ensuring those services with a tax increase, there was vigorous applause in the room.
Many citizens were wearing stickers in support of Cobb libraries. Others came on behalf of parks, recreation centers and The Art Place, located next door to the senior center and included on a draft list of options for closure.
Others were opposed to any tax increase, including Lance Lamberton of the Cobb Taxpayers Association, who brought a sign saying “Cut Waste.”
Monday’s meeting was the first of several Boyce is holding through early July, before commissioners are to adopt the budget by the end of next month.
He prefaced his remarks with charts predicting Cobb’s budget shortfall in 2014, with significant rising costs anticipated for the county pension fund, a pay increase for roughly half of county employees and public safety needs.
In public statements, Boyce has noted for several weeks how Cobb’s millage rate has decreased steadily since 1990, even though the county population has risen dramatically, from 450,000 then to more than 750,000 today.
After a 1.51 mills increase in 2011 during the recession, the general fund millage rate went down, again, including a decrease in 2016, right before Boyce defeated then-chairman Tim Lee in a runoff.
Currently, it’s 6.76 mills.
Last year, commissioners spent nearly $20 million in reserves to balance a $405 million general fund budget, leaving only $2.6 million on hand now.
“We simply need to buy things we haven’t bought,” Boyce said.
His revised budget would fund an additional 23 police officers, and provide body cameras for all officers as part of a public safety budget increase of $15 million.
Citizens peppered Boyce with questions about their tax bills, county funding for the Braves stadium and more. While some wondered if what he was proposing was enough, especially about public safety, others didn’t like hearing Boyce adamantly defend raising taxes.
When Ellen Smith (pictured above), an attorney who occasionally argues zoning cases in front of the commissioners, suggested an increase of 3 mills, in part to fully fund the county’s animal services, some citizens loudly grumbled and yelled out, “ask a question!”
When another citizen asked Boyce if he would “be back here next year” should his budget and tax demands not be sufficient, he said that “I don’t know what the future brings.
“But I don’t want to be back here next year.”
Boyce’s final town hall is back in East Cobb on July 9, at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center at 7 p.m.
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Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce holds his first budget town hall meeting Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center. (East Cobb News file photo)
A revised Cobb budget for fiscal year 2019 would keep open libraries and parks that had been put on draft lifts as options for closures because of the county’s projected $30 million deficit.
The revised budget, which Boyce explained in his weekly video (see bottom of this post), comes to $453 million for the general fund. The current budget for the general fund is $405 million.
In addition, the proposed budget would would add police officer positions and purchase body cameras for law enforcement and have Sunday opening hours at regional libraries (including the Mountain View branch in East Cobb).
It also would keep open the UGA Cobb Extension Service and the county animal services department. Those agencies also have been mentioned for possible elimination.
The millage rate increase he is seeking is 1.7 mills, above the 1.1-mill hike he had initially sought. While the 1.1 mills could cover the $30 million gap, Boyce said additional funds are necessary to restore county services to what they were before the recession.
He said based on feedback from Cobb citizens, especially in regards to libraries and parks facilities, the message is clear.
“We’re not closing anything,” Boyce said. “From what I’ve heard and seen, people like these amenities and want us to keep them. But I have to find a way to pay for them.”
Boyce, who begins a series of budget town hall meetings on Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center, also laid out how much a 1.7-mill increase would cost property owners (see chart below), with annual jumps ranging from $170 to $1,700, based the the taxable value of their homes.
After a testy Cobb budget retreat this week, Boyce got no “clear direction” from other commissioners about what proposal to take to the public. East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott has maintained that he wants to see more spending cuts before he would support any kind of increase.
Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell has said “everything is on the table” but that she didn’t favor shutting down parks facilities.
East Cobb facilities that have appeared on draft lists prepared by department heads and made public include the East Cobb Library, Fullers Park and Fullers Recreation Center, the Mountain View Aquatic Center, Mountain View Community Center and The Art Place.
Other budget details include restoring eliminated Cobb DOT maintenance positions and increasing right-of-way mowing contracts. Proposed cuts include $2 million in local grant matches and information services contracts.
Boyce said he’s gotten many e-mails from citizens complaining about unmowed grass along county roads and potholes.
On Wednesday, Cobb government asked in a social media posting for the public’s patience in handling a long backlog of transportation maintenance calls. It said Cobb DOT received 300 requests for service in a seven-day period and that the backlog includes 1,800 work orders.
“At current staffing levels, DOT is completing about 20 work orders per day,” according to the message.
“Do we want to have a county with a high quality of life serviced by the best staff in Georgia?” Boyce said in his video. “Or do we want to live in a mediocre county staffed and funded by a sub-par budget?”
He also said that “these town halls make a difference.”
Monday’s town hall meeting at the East Cobb Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) starts at 7 p.m. The town halls continue through July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library, followed by three public budget hearings that are required by law.
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East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott (left) and JoAnn Birrell (right) wouldn’t support Chairman Mike Boyce’s call for a property tax increase of 1.1 mills at Tuesday’s budget retreat at the Cobb Civic Center. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
One of the objectives laid out before a Cobb budget retreat on Tuesday was for county commission chairman Mike Boyce to “leave . . . with clear direction from the board.”
That board, the four district members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, provided him with nearly everything but that in a three-hour meeting at the Cobb Civic Center. Instead, Boyce left openly frustrated as he begins a series of budget town hall meetings next week, starting Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center.
He’s proposed a millage rate increase he says will close a $30 million budget deficit that’s projected for fiscal year 2019. During the retreat, told the commissioners “if we want to keep what we have, the bill is 1.1 mills,” a reference to his recommendation to raise the general fund millage rate.
Revealed earlier are draft lists of possible closures of libraries, parks and other “desired” services that have galvanized public pleas to preserve them, and in some cases, by raising taxes.
Here’s a Cobb Budget Journey interactive the county has released to provide background on the budget and millage history in recent years.
Commissioners picked away at a number of budget expenses, such as the cost of new police vehicles, transferring operating costs for the Cobb Safety Village to the Cobb Fire Department and proposed Sunday library hours, unwilling to give Boyce an unqualified yes vote.
Bob Weatherford of West Cobb, who is in a runoff election the day before the budget is to be adopted in July, told Boyce that “you’re asking us to commit to something before we’ve had the town halls.”
Even South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, his most reliable ally on the budget, wondered aloud about having town hall meetings to solicit more public feedback, since “every single e-mail references [full funding of libraries]. They’re telling us it’s a matter of priority.”
Boyce kept making the case that “I’d rather have something to take to the people.
“I have to pass a budget, but I also have to count votes,” Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce told commissioners at the retreat.
“What I’m asking the commissioners is to join me in this program,” he said. “I get it. You don’t want to stick your neck out. But this isn’t hard.
“It’s $30 million in an economy of billions,” Boyce said, his voice rising. “You would think we’re living in Albania! I just don’t understand.”
Near the end, Boyce said even if the tax rate went up two mills, it’s still lower than most other local governments in metro Atlanta.
“We owe it to the people of this county to continue this level of service,” he said, suggesting that if they couldn’t, headlines would read that they’re closing things like parks and libraries.
Some county government department heads and staffers in attendance loudly applauded when he said that. Boyce received even louder applause when he said:
“I will pay a huge political price. But I’m willing to pay it. I don’t want to live in a county that’s worse than when I came here.”
After the retreat, East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott told East Cobb News that he “heard some frustration” and credited Boyce with providing more budget details than what commissioners have received in past years. Ott has said for several months that he wants to see more proposed spending cuts before he’s willing to consider a tax increase.
He couldn’t support a millage rate increase on the spot “because I haven’t seen the cuts.
“A lot of what he asked for today we heard in October” at the commissioners’ previous retreat, Ott said.
Ott doesn’t support closing any parks or recreation facilities that were disclosed last week and contained on a draft list of possible options for budget reduction. They include Fullers Park and Fullers Recreation Center in East Cobb.
“I’m not going to support closing something that is heavily used,” Ott said.
District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell said that “I have no interest in closing parks.” Birrell, who is up for re-election in November, told East Cobb News she’s eager for the town hall meetings to get more citizens’ input before budget deliberations begin in July. She said she’s received many messages both in support of and against a tax increase.
The Mountain View Arts Alliance is asking members to fight to keep The Art Place open.
“We’re still looking at everything,” she said, adding that “shutting down” items on draft lists “won’t add up to $30 million.”
On the draft parks and recreation list in her Northeast Cobb district are the Mountain View Aquatic Center, the Mountain View Community Center and The Art Place.
The Mountain View Arts Alliance, a non-profit citizens’ group that provides support for The Art Place, has distributed a letter urging its members speak out at town hall meetings and contact their commissioners:
“Increasing the millage rate would provide the funds necessary to close the 30 million dollar budget gap. This money goes toward programs ranging from road maintenance to emergency services to libraries to the PARKS department, which encompasses The Art Place as well as dozens of recreation facilities and public parks.”
The MVAA is also asking its supporters to “please wear your brightest blue to show support at town hall meetings.”
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A rendering of a proposed park in Mableton, along the Chattahoochee River, includes Civil War earthworks.
An East Cobb resident who asked Cobb commissioners Tuesday to include the name of a Confederate general in the name of a new county park along the Chattahoochee River upset the commissioner who took the action item off the meeting agenda.
During a public comment period, Mary Stevens, who said she lives in East Cobb, wants the name of Gen. Joseph Johnston to be part of a proposed park in the Mableton area that includes Civil War earthworks.
Stevens said the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery and that “had it been so bad for the freed slaves they would have left the South.”
She said blacks served the Confederate Army as cooks, chaplains and other laborers and that “naming the park anything that does not include the name of Joseph Johnston is historically inaccurate.”
Johnston was the general in charge of Southern forces that fought Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union Army at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and the Battle of Atlanta in 1864.
Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who represents Mableton and South Cobb and is the board’s only African-American, tabled a proposal to designate the 103-acre tract as the Mableton Chattahoochee River Line Park.
A master plan for what some South Cobb residents preferred to be called the Mableton Discovery Park was approved by commissioners in March. Cobb has owned the land that’s also been known as Johnston’s River Line since 1990, but finalizing the name has been a thorny matter that has been delayed before.
Cupid said she understood there would be those with different perspectives, which is why she favored the Mableton Chattahoochee River Line Park name as a compromise.
“It’s very clear that this is a very sensitive issue that I don’t think was dealt with very sensitively” by Stevens, said Cupid, saying she was “deeply offended” by her remarks.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce explained the budget situation to the East Cobb Business Association in January. (East Cobb News file photo)
A few hours before holding a budget retreat, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Tuesday morning that no decisions have been made about how to close a projected $30 million deficit.
During a public comment session at the Board of Commissioners meeting, several East Cobb Boy Scouts asked that the Mountain View Aquatic Center and The Art Place not be closed.
Those facilities were included on a draft list prepared by the Cobb Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department and made public last week. They outlined possible cost savings as options for balancing the budget and include several parks, pools and community centers around the county.
Also on the list are the Mountain View Community Center, Fullers Park and the Fullers Recreation Center in East Cobb.
“All that it is is a working document,” Boyce said, explaining that county department heads have been asked to be prepared to answer questions commissioners may have about the cost of individual facilities as they begin budget deliberations.
The retreat is taking place Tuesday afternoon at the Cobb Civic Center.
Thus far, however, such options have been publicized only for senior services, libraries and parks and recreation. Also listed for possible elimination are the UGA Cobb Extension Service and Keep Cobb Beautiful.
Boyce had a town hall at the East Cobb Senior Center in January to hear from the public about fee increases at senior centers.
In February, a draft list of nearly $3 million in possible service cuts to the library system included the full closure of the East Cobb Library.
A formal budget proposal by Boyce has not been released as he prepares for several budget town hall meetings, starting next Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center. Another town hall will take place July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
“If you think it’s hard for you, it’s hard for us,” Boyce told the scouts.
He said that during the budget town halls, “we are going to find out what we’re going to continue to fund” based on public feedback, with the goal of producing a budget that “reflects our conservative values.”
Boyce has suggested a 1.1-mills increase in the property tax rate that would cover the deficit. But East Cobb’s commissioners are cool to that. District 2’s Bob Ott said he wouldn’t support a hike without seeing considerable savings presented first. JoAnn Birrell of District 3, who is seeking re-election in November, said she isn’t in favor of a tax increase either.
The parks and recs draft list identified around $3.3 million in savings, and about a third of that, $1.1 million, is in Birrell’s Northeast Cobb district.
She also reminded the Boy Scouts that no decisions have been made and asked for their and other feedback at the town halls.
“We’d like to hear from you again,” she said.
An East Cobb resident whom commissioners have heard from often renewed her concerns about library cuts during the public comment period Tuesday.
Rachel Slomovitz, who organized the Save Cobb Libraries group, said she has more than 2,100 signatures on a petition, and pleaded with commissioners not to “take away the most elemental of services.”
She said Cobb could have “book deserts” if steep cuts are made, citizens will suffer from having few computers for job-hunting and students will lose additional learning resources outside school.
“When you take away a library, there are outcomes you cannot imagine,” said Slomovitz, who supports a tax increase to prevent library cuts.
“I am here also to ask why you don’t have the courage to do what’s right for Cobb. Why make Cobb citizens feel as though they are about to lose everything?”
The fiscal year 2019 budget is scheduled to be adopted on July 25, after the town halls and three public hearings.
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State Rep. John Carson, a Republican from Northeast Cobb who was the primary sponsor of Georgia’s new hands free law that takes effect July 1, sent this message out today:
ATLANTA – State Representative John Carson (R-Marietta) today clarified that Georgia drivers may utilize music streaming applications and that there will not be a set enforcement grace period after House Bill 673, the Hands-Free Georgia Act, takes effect on July 1, 2018. Rep. Carson sponsored HB 673 during the 2018 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly, and Governor Nathan Deal recently signed this measure into law to create a hands-free driving law in Georgia.
“According to recent data, we believe the public awareness of this new law is already saving lives,” said Rep. Carson.“We encourage all Georgians to implement the best practices stated in the Hands-Free Georgia Act prior to July 1, 2018, for the safety of all commuters on Georgia’s roadways.”
According to a recent press release from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, drivers can listen to music streaming apps on their phone while driving under the new law, but they cannot activate their apps or change music through their phone while driving.Music streaming apps that are programmed and controlled through the vehicle’s radio system are allowed.However, music streaming apps that have video are not allowed since the law specifically prohibits drivers from watching videos.
Additionally, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the Georgia Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement officers recently reminded Georgia drivers that the law does not contain a 90-day grace period for enforcement.Many officers will be issuing warnings for violations in the first months of the law as part of the education effort, but citations can and will be issued starting July 1 where law enforcement officers believe they are warranted, especially those violations that involve traffic crashes.
This new hands-free driving law will prohibit drivers from holding or supporting a wireless telecommunication device or a stand-alone electronic device while operating a vehicle. Additionally, this measure will maintain the ban on texting, emailing and internet browsing while driving, but will also prohibit watching or recording videos while driving.GPS navigation and voice-to-text features will still be permitted.
For more information on HB 673, please click here.
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