East Cobb Government

EDITOR’S NOTE: Why just saying ‘no’ to a Cobb tax increase wasn’t enough

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Cobb tax increase
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.

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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.

Cobb tax increase
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 tax increase, $454 million budget approved for FY 2019 in close vote

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Mike Boyce, Cobb tax increase
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.

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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 Republican Party passes resolution opposing tax increase

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Cobb budget, Cobb Republican Party
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.”

(Here’s a PDF version of the full resolution.)

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.

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At at budget retreat in June,  Boyce expressed frustration with fellow commissioners who were reluctant to go along:

“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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Cobb budget proposal up for final public hearing, adoption on Wednesday

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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.

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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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Casteel Road closure for bridge replacement continues into August

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Casteel Road bridge construction

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 project includes 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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Canton Road tag office closing for renovations until the fall

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The Cobb County Tax Commissioner’s office has announced that the Canton Road tag office will be undergoing renovations starting next week.Cobb tax commissioner, Canton Road tag office closing

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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Commissioners to citizens on proposed Cobb property tax increase: ‘We hear you’

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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.

Cobb tax increase
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.

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“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 tax increase
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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Differing tales of two Cobb tax millage rate public hearings

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Cobb tax mllage rate public hearings
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.

In May, the school board adopted a $1.2 billion fiscal year 2019 budget that took effect July 1.

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.

Cobb tax millage rate public hearings
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 budget that 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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Cobb brunch bill referendum approved for November ballot

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Cobb brunch bill

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.

According to her organization, several other Georgia local jurisdictions have already added November ballot questions, and the city of Atlanta is poised to do the same.

If Cobb voters approve the brunch bill referendum, restaurants and hotels in the county could begin pouring  at 11 a.m. on Sundays starting on Nov. 18.

Other Cobb government news

 

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Cobb water bills to rise after approval of rate increase; Birrell opposed

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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).

Cobb County Water System, Cobb water bills

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.

Here’s more on the new water system fee structure and other changes.

 

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Boyce continues Cobb tax increase push as commissioners begin public hearings

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Cobb tax increase
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.

Cobb tax increase

 

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.

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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.

Cobb tax increase
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.

Cobb tax increase
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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Formal Cobb budget proposal to be presented Monday, followed by East Cobb town hall

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Cobb budget proposal
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.

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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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Cobb greenways and trails master plan approved; parks master plan delayed

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Cobb greenways and trails master plan
The Noonday Creek trailhead on Bells Ferry Road.

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.

We posted back in April about the details of those proposals, which would add 3.3 miles from the Johnson Ferry Trail to Hyde Farm at an estimated cost between $4.3 million and $4.7 million.

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.

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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.

Here’s the executive summary by Lose & Associates, presented at a commission work session, and which includes 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.

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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Citizens against tax increase to hold ‘Cobb Budget 101’ town hall Friday

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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.”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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Breaking: East Cobb water main break at Quarles treatment plant

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From Cobb County government, issued around 10 a.m. today:Cobb County Government logo, East Cobb water main break

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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Cobb tax digest for 2018 is announced at a record $36.7 billion

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Robinson Park construction, Cobb tax digest

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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Cobb commissioners approve purchase of Tritt property in East Cobb

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Tritt property
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.

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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.”Bob Ott, Tritt property

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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Cobb Library PASS agreement extended between county government, schools to 2020

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Cobb Library PASS
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.

Here’s the Cobb Library PASS website with more information, and here’s an FAQ page with more details:

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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Portion of Tritt property next to East Cobb Park set to be acquired by county

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Tritt property
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.

UPDATED: Commissioners approve purchase of Tritt property

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.

Here’s the agenda item summary, and here’s a copy of the proposed property sale agreement.

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 property map

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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Boyce takes case for Cobb tax increase to the public

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Mike Boyce, Cobb tax increase

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.

Revised Cobb budget, millage chart
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.

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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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