For the second time this summer, action on adopting a Cobb parks master plan through 2028 has been put on hold by county commissioners.
The proposal was for master planning services for land purchased recently with 2008 parks bond money. The master plan, according to Cobb Parks director Jimmy Gisi, is a “road map that will take us through the next 10 years.”
After a discussion at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, they weren’t ready to take the first step down that path. The proposal first came up in July at a work session but wasn’t discussed.
On Tuesday, commissioner Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb said the proposal was “putting the cart before the horse” since no money has been earmarked to build and operate new parks.
The land purchased with the $27.4 million in parks bond funding this year include 18.3 acres on Ebenezer Road (above), slated to become a passive park, and nearly 30 acres of Tritt property on Roswell Road next to East Cobb Park, which will remain greenspace.
While appreciative of the details that went into the recommendations, Ott said that “while we’re getting all this land,” spending around $90,000 for the planning design work “gets too far ahead of where we are.”
The master plan proposal includes projected spending on parks of around $300 million over the next decade. Lose & Associates, a consulting firm that prepared the master plan proposal, also made the the following recommendations:
increased staffing and funding;
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.
Ott said he wanted to see more specifics about funding, pointing out that the report didn’t indicate how much money would be generated by more user fees.
“It’s a little bit shallow on how you’re going to pay for it,” he said. “I’m uncomfortable with the financing part.”
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce asked for the proposal to be delayed at least until the first commissioners meeting in September.
Also on Tuesday, the commissioners approved using SPLOST money to build a playground at the Mabry Park under construction and for baseball-related maintenance at Sewell Park (previewed here).
Also approved was spending SPLOST funds on sidewalk projects, including $655,865 for a sidewalk on the west side of McPherson Road between Post Oak Tritt Rad and Shallowford Road, and the east side of McPherson near Mountain Creek Drive. The project covers a stretch of 0.50 miles and includes replacing existing curbs and gutters.
Another SPLOST-approved project on Shallowford Road, costing $35,800, will add sidewalks near Nicholson Elementary School and McCleskey Middle School, covering 0.25 miles.
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Cobb County government has sent word late this afternoon that a remediation order has been issued for the owners of the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center that’s long been the subject of community efforts to get cleaned up.
That means that NAI Brannen Goddard, an Atlanta-based real estate agency that owns the 16-acre site at 2692 Sandy Plains Road, has to make some immediate improvements to the property (detailed below), which includes some existing businesses.
Mostly, it’s empty commercial space, including a former bowlling alley, as well as a cemetery, that’s been deteriorating for nearly a couple decades.
Citizens have complained of criminal and even gang activity, especially around the bowling alley area. Cobb commissioners in 2017 adopted a blight ordinance. That would impose additional taxes on property identified as blighted and deemed uninhabitable and unsafe if remediation actions to improve it weren’t conducted.
That’s where this case, the first test of that ordinance that’s reached the court stage, stands now.
Under the remediation order issued in Cobb Magistrate Court, NAI Brannen Goddard must do the following to and around the bowling alley building:
install and maintain adequate lighting on all sides of the building within 15 days of the order;
install and maintain a camera security system within 15 days;
post “No loitering allowed” and “You are being video recorded” signs in conspicuous and prominent locations within 15 days of the court order;
provide an engineer’s report detailing the proper repairs required to correct the safety & structural issues created by the canopy’s removal within 30 days of the court order;
complete the repairs in the engineer’s report;
have a representative or project manager visit the site at least once per week to inspect for illegal activity & property damage and correct issues within 48 hours;
remove litter within 48 hours;
promptly respond to development inspections or code enforcement issues;
install fencing around the perimeter of the building to prevent passage onto the property.
Per the Cobb government information, the building doesn’t have to be demolished (as some in the community have wanted). But “non-compliance with the order will result in additional tax remaining on the property until the remediation is complete.”
Citizens living near the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center turned out en masse to a community meeting in March to demand the property be cleaned up.
The order is only for the bowling alley area, not for the rest of the Sprayberry Crossing property.
If additional taxes are levied, they would be seven times the county general fund millage rate value of their properties. According to a Cobb Community Development Agency estimate announced at a community meeting in March, that total would come to around $17,000. That figure prompted many citizens at the meeting to groan with dismay.
The order comes as commissioners were scheduled to designate several blighted properties for incentivized redevelopment on Tuesday, including the Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center (No. 15 on the map). It’s been on previous lists.
Some nearby residents, working through the Sprayberry Crossing Action group, also have been preparing possible civil action against NAI Brannen Goddard. A series of meetings, starting Thursday, has been scheduled for citizens interested in filing a claim against the property owner.
The Cobb government statement included this response from commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area:
“I’m pleased with the court’s decision in designating this property as blighted although I would have preferred the building be demolished. However, I’m glad to know the court heard the county’s and the citizen’s concerns. The county is doing everything within its ability under the code to address the concerns related to this property and will continue to monitor conditions.”
Here’s what Joe Glancy, organizer of the Sprayberry Action group, posted after hearing the news:
“It’s not enough.
“But a word of warning to Mitchell Brannen, Sam Hale, Bo Brown and the other owners of that blighted shopping center – summer with all its wonderful distractions is coming to a close, and you will have our full attention in the coming months.”
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Renovations to a concession stand building and some dugouts at Sewell Park are being proposed at Tuesday night’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting.
The Cobb Parks and Recreation Department says the upgrades have been earmarked in the 2011 SPLOST at a combined cost of $45,191, based on low bids received.
Needed enovations to the main concession stand building include restroom and storage space upgrades, as well as a new paint job and replacing windows. It overlooks Field 3, the main tournament field for the East Marietta National Little League.
Another agenda item would replace the dugout roofs at fields 5A and 5B, which are used for younger age-level games. Those dugouts currently have fabric tarp roofs that require maintenance and replacement. The proposed new roofs are metal.
It’s considered the centerpiece of the park, and the Mabry Park Master Plan calls for a farm theme for the playground to conform to the surroundings that were once park of the Mabry family farm.
On the consent agenda is an item for the commissioners to approve a new Cobb parks master plan for 2018-2028, an action that was delayed from earlier this summer.
One other item that’s sports-and-rec related: At the start of the meeting commissioners will recognize the Sandy Plains Prowlers 12-under baseball team, which recently had a standout tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., that we wrote about earlier.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.
The agenda is long and hefty, since a previous business meeting scheduled for this month was cancelled. You can read all that’s on tap here, and we’ll be reporting on some of those actions.
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Cobb commissioners spent $1.7 million this year to buy Ebenezer Road property for a future passive park. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Last week a national organization that examines municipal and local governance concerns published a series of posts about Cobb County growth issues, especially in the years since the recession.
The organization is called Strong Towns, which I have not heard of before. It describes itself as a non-profit media organization that’s based in Brainerd, Minn., a small town with a population of 13,000 or so, not close to a metropolitan area.
On Tuesdays I like to focus on local government, since that’s when many Cobb Board of Commissioners meetings take place. Today’s meeting has been cancelled, and I thought I’d delve a little into this interesting, but flawed examination.
The five-part Strong Towns report, which has gotten some chatter on Cobb citizens social media groups, refers to Cobb as “a suburban region that epitomizes the folly of going into debt to build more and more infrastructure with no ability to pay for it.”
Condominiums along Powers Ferry Road are part of a high-density community spreading out from SunTrust Park.
While that’s certainly how many locals around here feel about what’s happening in the county, I think the premise is faulty, and I’m skeptical of some of the claims made in this report.
Strong Towns misses one of the biggest points of all: Cobb remains a very attractive magnet for jobs because of its diversified economy and a well-educated workforce, the partial byproduct of another major attraction here, excellent public schools.
Cobb isn’t as “addicted to growth,” as the initial post is titled, as much as new residents and employers are continuously drawn by quality services and low taxes. A heavy pipeline of development bottled up during the lean years of the recession is taking shape.
These realities were not examined by Strong Towns, but I will link to all the posts in this series so you can read for yourself:
In an evergreen post elsewhere on its site, Strong Towns claims that many cities and counties in America are falling for a “Growth Ponzi Scheme,” which it further asserts as “the dominant model of suburban growth since the mid-20th century.”
The final post about Cobb started off with a reference to Bernie Madoff, who’s serving prison time for defrauding investors.
Really? To try to make a link between criminal behavior and the development and financial issues of a bustling suburban county, albeit one with major budget problems, borders on being irresponsible, as well as willfully misunderstanding.
Cobb commissioners this spring adopted the long-delayed Johnson Ferry Urban Design Guidelines to guide future growth in the busy commercial corridor.
I will always detest the Atlanta Braves stadium deal because the process was a total sham. But that doesn’t explain the county’s budget, tax and spending issues, which go back many years.
The county wasn’t chasing growth as much as it wasn’t sufficiently funding the growth that was already here or on the way, or was having trouble keeping up with the pace of the growth.
(Here’s a good example: When our family moved to East Cobb in the early 1970s, our home was still on septic tank, with the Sope Creek sewer line still under construction.)
There is an anti-suburban sentiment behind this report, and this is the biggest problem with it:
“Much of Cobb County . . . feels like nowhere. It has no center of gravity. It has no thriving urban core to serve as a tax-revenue cash cow.”
A citizen living near a proposed townhome community near Olde Town Athletic Club demonstrated to county commissioners this spring the building heights that were part of the initial plan.
Ironically, the area around SunTrust may prove to be just such a place. Cobb does have many misplaced priorities, symbolized by the Braves deal, and which I wrote not long ago stripped away the illusion of supposedly fiscally conservative government.
Instead of really trying to understand the unique challenges facing a Sunbelt community that has gone from mostly rural to suburban and now urban in many spots, and in about a half-century or so, Strong Towns wants Cobb to be more like Brainerd, I guess (a place where I’ve never been).
From what I’ve read about this organization, it wants every place to be like small-town America, with bucolic downtown cores, pedestrian-friendly shops and restaurants and adaptable to a “traditional development pattern.”
While that sentiment does have some conservative support, and it’s appealing to me as I continue on in middle age, it has never really come about in Cobb, for better or for worse.
It’s a nice ideal, but it doesn’t offer any practical solutions. Strong Towns produced a lot of words about Cobb County but with little real local knowledge on the ground about its subject.
That matters.
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Additional Cobb DOT crews will be hired to mow and maintain overgrown medians like this one at East Piedmont Road and Sewell Mill Road. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Before and after a Cobb tax increase was approved by county commissioners last month, those in favor of the millage hike have touted expanded additional police officer positions and law enforcement body cameras, restored library hours and more funding to maintain county medians and rights of way.
Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who voted against the budget in a 3-2 vote (along with JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb) hasn’t said much publicly about the 1.7-mills increase, other than extended remarks he gave right before the vote.
On Friday, he published those comments (excerpted below) “because many people have asked me why I voted no.”
In his weekly newsletter, he also said he’s been asked how his District 2, which includes East Cobb, will benefit from the increase. South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who supported the tax increase, talked about the police, library and DOT funding in her newsletter to constituents, and said the 1.7-mills increase was “indeed a compromise.”
Commissioner Bob Ott has said the county’s FY 2018 budget reminds him of SPLOST 2016, “full of wants and not identifying the true needs.”
Ott, who maintained during months of grueling budget deliberations that he wanted to see more proposed spending cuts before he would support any increase, mentioned only one benefit for District 2:
“1 DOT work crew”
Included in the $454 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2019 is $1.4 million for Cobb DOT mowing crews, which had been reduced to one countywide during the recession. Each of the four commission districts will have a dedicated crew, and the operations will be moved in-house for year-round work.
The county has been outsourcing mowing crews for $1.1 million a year, but they worked only for six months, from spring to fall.
Commissioners have said that constituents have complained about overgrown medians and rights-of-way as much as almost anything.
A few highlights from Ott’s budget adoption-night comments include his opposition to how the need tax hike was presented and his frustration that previous proposals to fund new police cars and find budget savings were ignored, as well as his concerns over looming pension obligations. Ott supports moving from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution plan:
I am disappointed in how the need for a tax increase has been presented. Putting forward to the residents the closure of the busiest parks, the busiest libraries, extension services, 4-H and Master Gardeners. This tugged on the heartstring of all residents, young and old, and the mission became ‘save us’ and the focus was off what the budget is actually made up of.
I too have had many emails and calls; not a day goes by where I get into work and there are another batch of emails. I am not here to tell you the ratio of those for and those against but here is my take away – when I write back to them or call them back I explain my position, I tell them that the services that are being threatened to be taken away were never proposals that came before the board. If they took the time to think about this – why would the board continue to buy more park space if the intent was to close parks, why are new libraries being built only to close them?
I proposed in the 2016 SPLOST that 9 million additional dollars be added to buy the police even more new vehicles than originally proposed. This was removed to pay for other’s wants of things not the NEEDS of the county. I even agreed to less money for District 2 sidewalks to pay for these cars and I was turned down.
When we had the [budget] retreat in October Commissioner Weatherford and I came up, on our own, [with] a way to save 50 million out of the budget. Some of my proposals were to consolidate the libraries that are under-used, outsource some departments in the County and to work on transportation to run fewer buses, maximize their capacity and look at the utilization of UBER and LYFT vouchers to take people to the main lines of the fixed routes.
None of our proposals or plans are included in this budget.
To all county staff, I value you and I do think that you work hard at your jobs. I am not the bad person when I talk about your pension. I will never agree to take what you have earned and put into your pension, but this pension plan has to change, it is simply not sustainable in its current form. I proposed a change 4 years ago. The pension is at its worst funding level it has ever been. Many companies have changed – large multi-billion companies that were hit hard in the recession changed – but not Cobb.
I proposed in this budget discussion to stop funding this type of pension – this does not mean that the employees lose what they put into their plan. It will be there when you retire. But the county needs to move into a 401K plan where the county can put in a percentage and the employees can put in money that they feel is appropriate to reach their goal in retirement. The money will then be yours and in your name.
You can read his full statment at this link, which includes further thoughts on employee salary increases, county vehicle replacement costs, additional police positions, libraries, parks and recreation, animal services and more.
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Cobb Planning Commissioner Thea Powell, who said she was being replaced by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, offered some remarks Tuesday morning before her last meeting.
An East Cobb resident who also served twice on the Cobb Board of Commissioners, said she received a letter from Boyce on July 26 notifying her of her termination, effective at the end of August.
She said Boyce had never expressed to her any disagreements about her votes on zoning issues, and said no reason was given for her firing. Powell noted that the letter came not long after she spoke out as a citizen against his proposed property tax increase.
In her comments, Powell made references to freedom of speech, saying that “no government should have the arrogance to believe that it alone knows what is in the best interest of its citizens.”
She thanked her colleagues on the five-member Planning Commission, who are appointed by county commissioners, and urged them “to continue to listen to all who come before” them.
She also thanked the county zoning staff and citizens and said “you have and will continue to make a difference.”
At the last public hearing before the budget was adopted, on Aug. 17, Powell referred to budget presentation information supporting a tax increase “a dog’s breakfast.”
She said that in spite of a 1.7-mills increase in the general fund that Boyce had sought in a record tax digest year, the county was spending more money than it had, and feared there may a repeat of the same situation next year.
Powell has a long history of public and civic service in Cobb County, starting with the East Cobb Civic Association. She served as a commissioner from Northeast Cobb’s District 3 from 1988-91 and also on an interim basis in the same post in 2010 when Tim Lee resigned to run for chairman.
Powell served on the Cobb Development Authority after being appointed by East Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott. In 2011, he tried having her appointed to the Cobb Citizens’ Oversight Committee.
At the time, there was speculation that she might run against Lee in 2012 (she did not), and her nomination was thwarted by the commissioners. Ott later hired her as his full-time staff assistant.
Powell also was appointed by Cobb Board of Education member David Chastain to serve on the school district’s Facilities and Technology advisory board. In 2016, she was a campaign adviser to Boyce in 2016, when he upended Lee.
After he took office, Boyce appointed her to the planning commission. Powell said Tuesday she looks forward to “having the opportunity to use my freedom of speech unencumbered.”
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East Cobb citizens had their say at several budget town hall meetings this summer, including at the Sewell Mill Library on July 9, shortly before commissioners voted to raise property taxes. (East Cobb News file photo)
Whenever the subject of a Cobb tax increase comes up, those who say “no” the loudest and most often quite often have prevailed.
Especially after I returned to the county in 1990, the “nos” have frequently had the ear of elected officials.
They have done almost anything to heed those citizens who urge them to: Cut wasteful spending. Impose a hiring freeze. Take care of needs instead of wants. Live within your means, just like we do.
These have been the bedrock principles of low-tax conservatism for as long as I can remember growing up in Cobb County.
Cobb became a magnet for new residents and businesses in large part because of low taxes. That’s still a big attraction, but so are good government services and schools. As a result, Cobb’s explosive growth, especially in the last 30 years, has generated another constituency.
These citizens, coming from all across the county, and representing many demographic and socioeconomic classes and interest levels, effectively countered the “no” forces during the budget deliberations that concluded this week with a general fund property tax rate increase of 1.7 mills.
Those citizens have been extremely vocal over the past few months about supporting the services they feared were being imperiled as a $30 million deficit loomed.
As draft lists were made public about potential “savings” in library and park services, the UGA Cobb Extension service and other small-bore line items, these citizens formed their own groups. Some started on Facebook, then fanned out to attend budget town hall meetings and public hearings and urged their members to tell commissioners what they valued.
They were every bit as active and organized as those who opposed a tax increase. At this point, the naysayers may wish to point out that citizens were whipped up into a frenzy by Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, who cited the need for a millage rate increase to keep Cobb “a five-star county.”
I wrote previously that there was some emotional blackmail involved as these lists were made public. I also wrote that a tax increase was likely. For far too long, Cobb elected officials have been fearful of getting an earful from those who always say “no.”
The problem with always saying no is that the provision of services wasn’t keeping up with the demand. Even as Cobb’s population grew from 450,000 in 1990 to more than 750,000 today, commissioners were gradually reducing the millage rate.
A post-recession situation emerged in which library hours hadn’t been restored, Cobb DOT maintenance crews hadn’t been replenished and the county had to hire dozens of new police officers.
Members of the Cobb Master Gardeners spoke in favor of preserving the UGA Cobb Extension Service.
As I listened to those who were saying “yes,” I heard the voices of Cobb citizens adamantly insisting that the services they valued were worth a few extra dollars a month on their tax bill.
Among those standing up were members of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. I’ve been hearing from them all summer. They work with the UGA Cobb Extension Office, which runs the local 4-H program and gets equal funding from the county and the state.
Also saying “yes” were some citizens who identified themselves as fiscal conservatives. These weren’t garden variety Berkeley radicals but suburban gardeners. They were also library and arts patrons and everyday people not prone to political activism.
None of those saying “yes” that I heard this summer are wild about a tax increase. I’m certainly not, but Cobb leaders have been dodging this bullet for too many years. After playing ball with the Atlanta Braves, they cut the millage rate in 2016, right before SunTrust Park became operational.
To me, that was the height of fiscal irresponsibility. Yet many proud fiscal conservatives have ignored that this summer, or belatedly sprung to action. The local newspaper fulminated in a thunderclap editorial that Boyce went against his promises of no new taxes, and fretted that “conservatism has fallen out of fashion” yet again.
(I’d argue that real, principled conservatism went out of fashion when the four members of the commission who are Republicans voted to subsidize a baseball stadium, an action the daily printed edition uncritically approved. The lone Democrat, occasionally slammed by the same publication, cast the only vote against it.)
Earlier this month, citizens against a tax increase lobbied for a hiring freeze, even as DOT, public safety and other positions have been frozen for several years.
The day before the budget vote, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution against a tax increase with plenty of boilerplate language, but no tangible suggestions to balance the budget.
Commissioner Bob Ott
JoAnn Birrell and Bob Ott, East Cobb’s commissioners, were on the short end of the 3-2 vote. Birrell wanted a smaller increase, Ott wanted to see more proposed spending cuts.
The decisive vote was cast by Bob Weatherford, drubbed the day before in a runoff against a tax increase opponent, but who said it was time for the county to invest its future.
Though his support for a tax increase may have cost him his political future, Weatherford’s rationale was certainly different than what we’re accustomed to in Cobb. So is Boyce’s, whether he runs for re-election in two years or not. Both are Republicans.
What looms ahead remains uncertain. I wonder if 1.7 mills will be enough of an increase to avoid another rough budget process next year. There are efficiencies that have to be considered that Boyce ignored in this budget.
Ott offered some sound spending proposals that deserve attention. Foremost is reforming the county’s existing defined benefit pension plan, which is a ticking time bomb for many governments. SPLOST reform also must be addressed.
More than anything, I hope citizens who participated in the budget battle this summer, both in favor of a tax hike or against, continue to stay active. Their voices and diligence and willingness to question how their money is being spent are needed.
No matter your views on a tax increase, it was encouraging to see such vigorous civic involvement, especially from those who don’t normally speak out.
Before Wednesday’s vote, former Gov. Roy Barnes, who holds a 4-H gala at his Marietta home every fall, said to the commissioners that local government is “government in the raw.”
We may be about to find out what that truly means, even after this grueling summer.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce took his call for a property increase to citizens for several months, including town hall meetings this summer. (East Cobb News file photo)
After more than three hours of public speakers and comments from commissioners, a Cobb tax increase was approved Wednesday night.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a property tax hike of 1.7 mills and a fiscal year budget of $454 million for the general fund.
Chairman Mike Boyce, who said he was staking his political future on the outcome, got everything he wanted.
In addition to getting the vote of South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat on the five-member board, he also got the vote of Republican Bob Weatherford, who as it turned out may have sacrificed his political future in the process.
Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell, who represent East Cobb in Districts 2 and 3, respectively, voted against the budget and the millage rate increase.
While Ott said he wouldn’t support an increase without spending cuts that weren’t presented, Birrell said she would have been in favor of a hike of 1.2 or 1.3 mills but nothing more.
Weatherford, defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday night in a Republican runoff in North Cobb’s District 1 by an anti-tax increase opponent, proved to be the swing vote.
He said after reflecting on his big loss (59-41 percent to Keli Gambrill) that he naturally wondered what had gone wrong.
“It’s what I did right that people didn’t like,” said Weatherford, who will have served only one term. “I made the hard choices and did what I said I would do.”
He said that he’s been threatened and even challenged to a fistfight for his calls for a lesser tax increase than what passed.
“The only thing I’m running for now is the hills, but I do not want to leave the county worse than than when I got here,” he said.
“So I completely support this.”
With that, loud applause broke out in the commissioners’ meeting chambers.
But plenty of citizens spoke against a tax increase, saying the county had a spending problem and wasn’t looking for efficiencies.
The 1.7 mills would push the general fund rate to 8.46 mills, generate around $47 million in additional revenue, and go beyond solving what Boyce has said is a projected $30 million deficit for FY 2019. The extra funds include $15 million more for public safety and the restoration of some Sunday library hours.
East Cobb residents Debbie Fisher and Jan Barton, vigorously opposed to a tax hike, continued to dispute the severity of the deficit.
Pamela Reardon, an East Cobb realtor and 1st vice chair of the Cobb Republican Party, which passed a resolution Tuesday against a tax increase, said the county must “learn to live within its means,” especially with a record county tax digest in 2018.
Another East Cobb resident, retiree Frank Maleski, recited a long list of taxes he pays and said “I can’t afford to pay for any more government.”
Other East Cobb residents were adamant in support of a tax hike.
One of them is attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents Cobb public safety personnel. The budget will fund 23 more police officer positions as well as vehicles and body cameras.
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb and District 2.
He worried that failing to provide resources to police officers and sheriff’s deputies would prompt existing personnel to look elsewhere for better opportunities.
Another is JoEllen Smith, who ran as Republican for a legislative seat in East Cobb in 2013. She said she estimated her tax bill would go up by around $200 a year, or $16 a month. The weekly boost of around $4, she told commissioners, amounted to a cup of coffee.
“I’d give up a Starbucks so police can have whatever the hell they want,” said Smith, who apologized for her language.
In lengthy prepared remarks, Ott outlined many reasons for voting for any tax increase at all, including the fact that many of the services that were listed as possible cost savings—including parks, libraries and the Cobb animal services program—were not included in Boyce’s budget.
He likened this budget to the 2016 Cobb government SPLOST, which he said had a lot of “wants” but not much in the way of “needs.”
He also advocated that the county consider a regional library concept to consolidate branches that are little-used.
While “nothing on my list is absolute,” Ott said the county has to grapple with growing concerns like employee pensions and pay increases, especially when “the tax digest is the highest it’s ever been.”
Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb who’s been vilified in the Marietta paper in the days leading up to the vote, said “I didn’t have to do the town halls. But I believe in the people in this county. This is how I govern. I talk to you. I want you to tell us what’s on your mind.”
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb, says a tax hike is necessary to move the county forward. (East Cobb News file photo)
While runoff election results were coming in on Tuesday, word was getting out that the Cobb Republican Party urged commissioners not to raise property taxes when they vote on the fiscal year 2019 county budget tonight.
Earlier Tuesday, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution encouraging the commissioners and all elected officials to “exercise fiscal restraint” and called a proposed tax hike “an undue burden on the community.”
The resolution will be presented by Cobb GOP chairman Jason Shepherd tonight as the Cobb Board of Commissioners is holding its final public hearings on the budget and millage rate at 7 p.m., before adopting both.
The resolution states, in part that:
“Cobb County Government should only provide services not readily available in the private sector and which are not core services of local civil government, especially when facing a budget shortfall;”
Also:
” . . . there have been several examples identified of waste in Cobb County Government spending, and no operational audit of the county government has been performed, nor have any reductions in spending been proposed at the townhall meetings hosted by the Chairman, but many increases in spending have been proposed . . . and a tax increase would be an undue burden on the community.”
The resolution comes at the end of a final push for and against Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills tax increase.
He’s taken his proposed $453 million general fund budget around the county at town hall meetings, and citizens on both sides of a tax hike have been vocal.
The Cobb GOP is making a strong statement on a five-member board with four Republican members, including Boyce, who’s from East Cobb. He’s said the tax hike would help move the county forward beyond solving a projected fiscal year 2019 deficit of $30 million.
“It’s $30 million in an economy of billions. You would think we’re living in Albania! I just don’t understand.”
The Cobb GOP’s resolution echoes the calls of tax hike opponents who said the county needs to do more to find efficiencies, but is aimed at Republican votes on the commission.
District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb has said the vote “is very close right now” and said she is considering all comments from constituents.
Another Republican commissioner, who has been targeted by tax increase opponents, lost his bid for re-election last night. Bob Weatherford of District 1 in North Cobb was easily defeated in a runoff by Keli Gambrill, a first-time political candidate, who campaigned against a tax increase. She will join the commission in January since she has no Democratic opponent in the general election.
Weatherford still has a vote tonight, and he and Birrell said at a public hearing last week that a compromise figure on a millage rate increase could be likely.
Commissioner Bob Ott, a Republican who represents East Cobb in District 2, has said he opposes the budget proposal without any significant spending cuts.
Boyce has the support of South Cobb Commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat, who thinks an additional 1.7 mills is not enough.
The public hearings and commissioners meeting takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott (L) and JoAnn Birrell at a budget retreat in June. (East Cobb News file photo)
While voters are going to the polls in today’s election runoffs, county elected officials are preparing to vote on a Cobb budget proposal on Wednesday that’s been months in the making, and hashing out.
Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, citizens will have their final say in required public hearings for the fiscal year 2019 budget and 2018 property tax millage rate held by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The commissioners will vote on both at the same meeting. It takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.
Commissioners heard plenty from citizens on both sides of a proposed tax increase of 1.7 mills last week, and the vote will probably be a very close one.
The budget and millage rate votes are being delayed a day due to the Tuesday runoffs.
Commission chairman Mike Boyce is proposing a $453 million general fund budget that includes the hiring of police officers and partial restoration of Sunday library hours cut during the recession.
While supporters of the tax increase include library and UGA Cobb Extension advocates, critics said Boyce didn’t look hard enough for cuts to reduce a projected $30 million deficit.
Citizen groups were urging their supporters early this week to make final contact with commissioners about the vote.
Rachel Slomovitz of East Cobb, who created the Save Cobb Libraries group and who supports a tax increase, posted on Facebook Sunday that “starting tomorrow until Wednesday night we need your voice. We need you to email or call your Commissioner, and tell them you want the libraries to remain open, in business and don’t want to see them on the chopping block.”
Members of the Cobb chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which opposes a tax hike, were knocking on doors Monday in District 3 in Northeast Cobb. That’s represented by commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who said the vote is “very close right now” and that she is considering every letter and call from constituents.
AFP also canvassed over the weekend in District 1 in North Cobb. That’s where commissioner Bob Weatherford is in a Republican runoff today against Keli Gambrill, who’s against a tax increase.
“We will have green shirts and signs [at Wednesday’s meeting] to let our commissioners know that we adamantly oppose the property tax hike and that our citizens are calling for fiscal viability as the baseline for our county’s governance,” AFP said in an e-mail communication to supporters.
Birrell is leery of a 1.7 millage rate increase, although she said the budget can’t be balanced on cuts alone. She said a compromise might be the best solution, and Weatherford said a likely figure the commission might settle on is a hike between 1.1 and 1.7 mills.
Boyce, of East Cobb, and Lisa Cupid of South Cobb’s District 4 support the increase, although Cupid thinks it should be higher.
Commissioner Bob Ott, of District 2 in East Cobb, has said he would not vote for the proposed budget without seeing more spending cuts.
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A Casteel Road closure that’s been in place since the start of summer school vacation will be lasting into the start of a new school year.
Ongoing construction work to replace the aging Piney Grove Creek bridge means that Casteel Road will now be closed until Aug. 15.
Initially DOT had estimated a completion around July 31, since Cobb schools return on Aug. 1.
The $1.2 million projectincludes a wider passage on Casteel Road over the bridge, with shoulders, sidewalks and barriers on both sides, and a reconfiguration of its intersection with Bill Murdock Road and Oak Lane.
Through traffic on all three roads near the bridge site is being met with signs like the above, on Bill Murdock at Blakeford Club Drive.
A detour route prepared by Cobb DOT and mapped below continues to be in effect until the bridge work is done and the roads are reopened.
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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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