The bridge over Sope Creek along Lower Roswell Road where the Cobb Water System says sewer repairs are needed.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked by the Cobb Water System on Tuesday to approve nearly $7 million in funding for sewer repairs at five points along Sope Creek in East Cobb.
An agenda item for Tuesday’s regular business meeting said that a total of 2,070 linear feet of 12- and 36-inch ductile iron gravity sewer pipe needs to be relocated, including the removal of three aerial lines at bridges and installing new lines under the creek.
“Over time, Sope Creek has expanded and eroded the streambanks, exposing the existing sanitary sewer line that parallels the creek at two locations,” the agenda item states. “Also, trees, limbs, and other debris are washed down the creek during storms and collect on three aerial sewer lines that cross the creek, which puts them at risk of being damaged and requires regular maintenance to clear the debris.”
Those locations are creek overpasses at Lower Roswell Road, Indian Hills Drive and Holt Road.
Two other areas of Sope Creek, just below Lower Roswell and east of Holt Road and north of Old Sewell Road, also need to be repaired (see map).
Another 700 feet of channel protection material also needs to be installed to stabilize the streambank and “hinder further erosion,” the agenda item states.
A construction cost estimate for $6.765 million will come from the water system’s capital improvements budget, with additional expenses, including $135,000 from the county reserve fund, bringing the total cost to $6.989 million, according to the agenda item, which is on the commissioners’ consent calendar.
The request did not indicate a timetable for the repairs to be made.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners will hold an initial public hearing for proposed code amendments relating to animals, the environment, licenses, permits and businesses, zoning and administration.
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Commissioner Jerica Richardson listens as Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler outlines options of the proposed Cobb Mobility referendum. ECN photos.
As an open house period preceded a town hall on the proposed Cobb Mobility Referendum, some citizens who gathered at the Fullers Park Recreation Center Thursday weren’t happy with how the event was set up.
After an hour, Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson, Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler and other county, metro Atlanta and state transportation officials conducted a panel discussion and answered written questions from the crowd of about 50 people.
Some complained that there was no process for verbally questioning those at the front of the room, but after a while, a few citizens did anyway.
The Cobb Taxpayers Association, which opposes a transit tax of any duration, distributed two full pages of questions its leader, Lance Lamberton, says the county isn’t trying to answer.
Including the first question: “How much will the transit tax cost the average citizen on an annual basis?”
Lamberton was among the skeptics who question the need for a one-cent sales tax for transit and other transportation that Cobb DOT presented last month.
One option would be for 10 years that would collect $2.8 billion and the other is a 30-year tax that would collect $10.9 billion. The latter is endorsed by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who said at a work session last month that would enable the county to get more federal matching funding.
Commissioners are expected to vote later this year on whether to call for a referendum in November 2024, but Richardson told East Cobb News before the town hall a date to formally consider that action hasn’t been discussed.
Thursday’s open house was the first of several to take place around the county through the end of October to gauge public response to the possibility of having a transit tax.
She said the feedback she’s received has been “a mixed bag” that presents a variety of issues and options, including accessibility, pedestrian safety, road resurfacing and paratransit and microtransit services.
The bulk of the proposal would be to create and expand what Cobb DOT calls “High-Capacity Transit” bus services, primarily in dense areas in the Cumberland and along Interstate 75 as well as around Town Center and the main Kennesaw State University campus.
The options include Bus Rapid Transit, which would operated in dedicated lanes, and Arterial Rapid Transit, which blends in with other vehicles.
The only current CobbLinc line that runs in East Cobb is along Powers Ferry Road.
There is a proposed 6.6-mile ART route that would run along Roswell Road from the proposed Marietta Transit Center near the Big Chicken to Johnson Ferry Road, with a projected cost between $125-$150 million.
That’s similar to a route that was previously operated by Cobb Community Transit (now CobbLinc), but was discontinued by commissioners during the recession. It had some of the lowest ridership numbers in the system.
“Ultimately, he voters have the right to say what their tax money will be used for,” Raessler said after highlighting the referendum presentation he made to commissioners in August (you can read it here).
That was a prelude to a question that has been on the minds of many as Cobb DOT prepares to put together a project list before the anticipated commissioners’ vote.
Why?
Raessler pointed to project population growth of 25 percent in Cobb County by 2050, to more than 1 million residents, and a 24-percent increase in the county’s number of employed people, to more than 500,000.
He said KSU students have expressed easier access to CobbLinc, the county’s existing bus service.
An expanded and blended system, Raessler said, is more flexible and affordable than rail, and can take some of the features of rail “to make it work better.”
“We’re in the transit environment that was envisioned 30 years ago,” said Brad Humphry, a mobility member of Richardson’s citizen “cabinet.”
“The opportunity is now to envision the transit system of the future.”
“We don’t want to be another Sandy Springs,” resident Virginia Choate said.
But several citizens spoke out adamantly against those transit options, saying they would lead to higher density in more suburban areas.
Richardson had said that there would be no proposed changes in density from the county’s future land use map to accommodate transit.
“We’re going to stay consistent with the Future Land Use Map,” she said.
Raessler said that bus service would indeed look different around the county because of varying levels of density that already exist.
“There will be a different look [with routes] connecting the KSU campuses and anything going into East Cobb,” he said.
But resident Virginia Choate said “we do not want to look like Sandy Springs. . . . Buses from the Big Chicken to East Cobb are not needed.”
Raessler emphasized that the need to expand transit now is to get ahead of the anticipated influence of new residents and workers.
“How can we accommodate that growth?” he said.
When Lamberton pressed him on this primary question—the cost the tax would cost the average household—Raessler said “it depends on the household.
“It is a sales tax and it depends on how much that individual is spending.”
Richardson admitted that she has issues with a sales tax that is regressive by nature and would hit those on the financial margins the hardest.
She suggested that perhaps state lawmakers could revisit the 2022 law allowing for local mobility referenda to create some exemptions from the tax in certain categories of sales.
Richardson said she’s inviting further public feedback on the issue and invites citizens to examine her mobility presentation.
Five more open houses are scheduled on the mobility referendum, including Saturday, Oct. 14, from 10 a.m to 12 p.m. at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road).
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A few weeks after Cobb commissioners were briefed on options for a proposed Cobb mobility sales tax, one of East Cobb’s representatives will have a forum on transportation issues.
District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson is holding a forum next Thursday from 5:30-8 p.m. at Fullers Recreation Center (3499 Robinson Road) that’s free and open to the public.
Cobb DOT will present recommended options (info sheet here) and provide an overview the proposed Cobb Mobility SPLOST, or special-purpose local-option sales tax, as well as existing transit services, technology, current and upcoming projects.
It’s touted as the “Future of Mobility,” but the focus figures to be on a proposed 2024 SLPOST referendum that commissioners have yet to vote on setting.
It’s tentatively set for November 2024 after being delayed last year.
At an Aug. 22 commission meeting, Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler laid out two sales tax options, one for 10 years that would collect $2.8 billion and a 30-year tax that would collect $10.9 billion.
Commissioners were divided on the issue, with Republican JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb saying she wouldn’t support a tax longer than five years.
Richardson, a first-term Democrat who announced last week the launch of her 6th Congressional District campaign, hasn’t stated a preference for the length of a tax.
A number of the transit projects in the Cobb DOT Mobility SPLOST presentation include expanded and “high capacity” bus service.
One of the few in East Cobb is a 6.6-mile line that would run along Roswell Road from the proposed Marietta Transit Center near the Big Chicken to Johnson Ferry Road, with a projected cost between $125-$150 million,
That’s a similar route that was previously operated by Cobb Community Transit (now CobbLinc), but that was discontinued by commissioners during the recession. It had some of the lowest ridership numbers in the system.
To register for the transportation forum, click here.
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Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell (second from left) with Marsha Stemme, Rosan Hall and Rose Wing of the Barbara Hickey Constitution Day Committee for Constitution Day. Cobb County photo.
The Fielding Lewis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will host a “Ringing of the Bells” event Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Marietta Square to observe Constitution Day.
This event is free and open to the public, and community leaders will be participating in the program. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held at First Presbyterian Church Marietta (189 Church St.).
The DAR holds bell-ringing ceremonies across the county each Sept. 17 to launch Constitution Week, which is being observed in Cobb County.
According to an event announcement, “the Marietta Square bell is an exact replica of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. This replica was made in the same foundry that made the original. It was presented to the City of Marietta on July 4, 1976 by the Marietta Jaycees as part of the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. It was rung 13 times that day in tribute to the original 13 colonies that formed the United States of America.”
The Fielding Lewis Chapter was founded in Marietta in 1904. It’s named after a Revolutionary War-era merchant and trader from Virginia who helped supply the American army and led boycotts against British goods.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners earlier this week recognized the Barbara Hickey Constitution Committee for Constitution Day.
It’s a part of the Cobb Republican Women’s Club and members distribute copies of the U.S. Constitution to fifth grade students in Cobb and Marietta schools.
The U.S. Constitution was signed by delegates in Philadelphia on Sept, 17, 1787, a date also recognizes those who have become U.S. citizens.
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The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved spending $2.2 million to finish interior work on the new Cobb Police Precinct 6 in Northeast Cobb.
The facility located next to the Mountain View Aquatic Center on Gordy Parkway at Sandy Plains Road was budgeted for $5 million as part of the 2016 Cobb SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax).
Ground was broken in late 2021, but rising construction costs pushed the project well over budget, to $7.7 million, and commissioners approved an additional $400,000 last year.
But the Cobb Department of Public Safety said the building is only 60 percent complete, with interior build-out still to be finished, and the work needs to be done now to avoid funding issues.
Public safety director Mike Register, a former Cobb police chief, said $200,000 of the new funding from the county’s general fund reserve would be for contingency costs for Batson-Cook, the contractor.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District thanked Register, who was recently reappointed to his former role and who took she and her colleagues on a tour of a project she has been pushing for for years.
The vote was 4-0, with Chairwoman Lisa Cupid absent.
“This is a long time coming,” she said, noting the funding is the last of her allotment from the 2016 SPLOST. “Thank you for bringing this home as soon as you got here. You hit the ground running with this. I appreciate you championing this.”
Construction is expected to be complete by next spring, with initial staffing to be for administrative staff.
Register said a typical schedule for the precinct would be from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. as the police department works to fill a high number of vacancies, especially for patrol officers.
Precinct 6 isn’t initially being staffed for patrol staff. Most of the East Cobb area is covered by patrol units from Precinct 4, based on Lower Roswell Road, and stretching from Canton Road to the Powers Ferry Road corridor.
“It’s going to immediately impact the citizens and give them value,” he said.
Register said citizens could typically get daytime services including copies of police incident reports and for other law enforcement services.
“As our vacancies begin to dissipate, we’ll begin to slowly staff the precinct with about half the beats, as we bring it up to a fully staffed precinct,” he said.
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Cobb public safety officials will ask commissioners on Tuesday for $2.2 million in reserve funding to complete the construction of a new police precinct in Northeast Cobb that’s been delayed by funding issues.
According to an agenda item, (you can read it here), the additional funding is needed to build out offices and other internal facilities for the long-delayed building, which is located next to the Mountain View Aquatic Center on Gordy Parkway at Sandy Plains Road.
An estimated $5.5 million has been spent thus far on the precinct, which was approved by Cobb voters in the 2016 Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) with a budget of $5 million.
Last June, commissioners approved a “maximum guaranteed price” of $5.4 million with Batson-Cook the contractor, as construction costs have been soaring since supply chain issues were prompted by COVID-19 closures.
Tuesday’s agenda item said that the additional funding from last year also has been depleted. The remaining work includes completing office space for command and administrative staff, holding cells, evidence rooms, workout rooms and “additional staff restrooms,” the agenda item states.
“Completing the project now will decrease construction costs and maintain the health of the existing structure,” the agenda item states. “An implementation plan for staffing is being developed by the Police Department to be executed upon completion of the project.”
The total estimated cost for the precinct is now $7.736 million.
Initial plans were for Cobb Police to house several specialized units at Precinct 6 but not have a patrol zone. Most of the East Cobb area is covered by patrol units from Precinct 4, based on Lower Roswell Road, and stretching from Canton Road to the Powers Ferry Road corridor.
The commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
It also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
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Following up our story last week about the possibility that CenterStage North might halt its 2024 season at The Art Place-Mountain View due to Sunday staffing issues with Cobb PARKS:
Jonathan Liles, CSN’s managing director, told East Cobb News Friday that the community theater organization and the county have come to an agreement to continue Sunday staffing by employees of The Art Place.
He said he met with Cobb PARKS staff Friday and said that CenterStage North Sunday shows and Sunday musical recitals will continue into 2024.
“We discussed the potential of future partnerships and how it could benefit The Art Place,” Liles said without elaborating.
The county told CenterStage North last month that starting next year The Art Place would be closed to all Sunday activities due to staffing issues at the county-run facility on Sandy Plains Road, located in a complex with the Tim D. Lee Senior Center and the Mountain View Regional Library.
Liles said CenterStage North had been getting inquiries from patrons about the 2024 season. He previously told East Cobb News the all-volunteer non-profit couldn’t exist financially without ticket sales from Sunday matinee performances, and there was no other place to go.
“Without the Sunday revenue, I cannot afford to stay open,” he said.
The Art Place also offers art classes and holds special arts exhibits and receptions. Earlier this year, Sunday musical recitals there were discontinued due to the staffing issues.
East Cobb News has left a message with the county seeking more information.
CenterStage North will soon proceed with planning its 2024 season, which includes four to five performances a year, including a special Christmas event.
“We’d like to thank The Art Place Staff, Cobb Parks and Rec Assistant Director Mario Henson, and Marie Jernigan, the Cultural Affairs Director, for their support and partnership,” Liles said.
The 2024 season is as follows, with ticket sales starting in October:
The 39 Steps – Feb 2024
Drinking Habits – May 2024
Maytag Virgin – August 2024
Little Shop of Horrors (Musical, rights pending) – October 2024
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A Cobb Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that Cobb Commissioner Keli Gambrill doesn’t have standing in lawsuits she filed to contest the county’s invocation of home rule over redistricting.
Judge Ann Harris said that Gambrill, a Republican who represents District 1 in Northwest Cobb, failed to show specific harm done to her when the commission’s three Democrats last fall voted to implement commission maps they preferred over those adopted last year by the Georgia legislature.
In court filings, Gambrill—who said she was acting as a private citizen in the lawsuits—said the uncertainty over the maps may affect if she’s re-elected and where she would be voting.
But Harris noted that Gambrill was re-elected last year after being unopposed and that her district lines changed little.
“At best, the concerns raised by Gambrill are generalized and according to her, shared by all citizens,” Harris wrote. “They are not particular to Gambrill, and therefore, they are not sufficient to show an injury in fact to Gambrill. Several of her claims arise from her official capacity and are not relevant to this suit. As a result, Plaintiff Gambrill has no standing to proceed on these claims and her case ends here.”
Harris said the other plaintiffs, Catherine and David Floam, can remain, since they are residents of District 3 in East Cobb that is at the heart of the map dispute.
Maps approved by the Cobb commission’s Democrats would keep Jerica Richardson of East Cobb in the District 2 (in pink) that she currently represents.
They had been in District 1 and voted there in 2022, but the Democratic maps that are being recognized by the county placed them in District 3.
The Democratic maps dramatically altered the two districts in East Cobb. Jerica Richardson of District 2 was drawn out of her home by the legislative maps, which put most of East Cobb in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell.
Birrell was re-elected under the legislative maps last year but did not get involved in the lawsuits. She attended a July 7 hearing in Harris’ chamber on the issue of standing.
Attorney General Chris Carr, while issuing an opinion this spring that the Cobb Democratic maps are not legal, said his office cannot get involved until there is a legal action.
The county filed for home rule to keep Richardson, a first-term Democrat, in office. Her term ends in 2024, and she has repeatedly claimed that drawing her out of her district during her term has been unprecedented in Georgia.
She started a non-profit education organization, For Which It Stance, to advocate for local government control on a number of issues.
Gambrill and Birrell have said their Democratic colleagues’ action is unconstitutional because only the legislature can conduct reapportionment.
Cobb commission maps passed by the Georgia legislature would include most of East Cobb in District 3 (gold).
Gambrill also filed a suit to have the Democratic maps ruled unconstitutional and replaced with those adopted by the legislature. She initially filed the lawsuits in March with former Cobb Commission Chairman candidate Larry Savage of East Cobb, who later withdrew.
She spent her own money to hire Ray Smith, an Atlanta attorney, who argued on her and the Floams’ behalf at the July hearing before Harris.
On Tuesday, Smith was indicted by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others accused of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
Both of the redistricting lawsuits are before Harris, who has scheduled a Nov. 20 hearing on the county’s motion for judgment.
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Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson announced today that 2023 property tax bills have been issued. Payments are due by October 15. Payments must be received or USPS postmarked by the due date to be considered on time.
A total of 269,795 tax bills representing $1,182,943,945 was calculated. This consists of 253,682 Real Property for $1,100,940,066 and 16,113 Personal Property for $82,003,879.
The six cities of Cobb bill and collect their own property taxes. The chart below details this year’s property taxes for Cobb County’s billing and collection authorities:
New for 2023, we added the City of Mableton to our tax digest and included the Homeowners Relief Tax Grant (HRTG, also known as the Governor’s Credit) into our tax calc process. The HRTG, funded by the Georgia General Assembly, is a one-time tax credit totaling $60,088,225 in tax savings for Cobb. Eligible homeowners with homesteaded properties will see a reduction on their 2023 tax bill.
Payments may be made online, by phone, mail, or in-person. Processing fees may apply:
Online at cobbtax.org via e-Check, debit or credit card.
Phone automated system at 1-866-PAY-COBB (1-866-729-2622).
Mail to Cobb County Tax Commissioner, P.O. Box 100127, Marietta, GA 30061.
In person at any of the following locations:
Property Tax Division at 736Whitlock Avenue, Marietta;
East Cobb Office at 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta; and
South Cobb Government Service Center at 4700 Austell Road, Austell.
24/7 drop boxes for checks/money orders made payable to Cobb County Tax Commissioner at:
Property Tax Division at 736 Whitlock Avenue, Marietta;
North Cobb Office at 2932 Canton Road, Marietta;
East Cobb Office at 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta; and
South Cobb Government Service Center at 4700 Austell Road, Austell.
For questions or assistance, email tax@cobbtax.org or call 770-528-8600.
Please visit Understanding Your Tax Bill at cobbtax.org for a detailed explanation of our 2023 tax bills.
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The remnants of the Gritters Library building in Northeast Cobb stood in a heaping pile Monday as demolition crews completed their work.
The nearly 50-year-old building in Shaw Park, which closed in June, was torn down as the Cobb County Public Library System begins a rebuilding project that’s expected to take a year.
The new branch on the same site will be much more than a library. The 15,000-square-foot replacement, at a cost of $9.8 million, will include county workforce development programs and the Northeast Cobb Community Center, which is being relocated from another part of Shaw Park.
Gritters patrons are being directed to the Mountain View Regional Library and library staff will be reassigned to other branches until the new library opens next year.
More photos and info about the demolition can be found by clicking here.
An architectural rendering of the new Gritters Library-Northeast Cobb Community Center.
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Lisa Cupid addressed the East Cobb Civic Association at Fullers Park in May.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid has scheduled a series of town hall meetings across Cobb County that begin later this month and continue into October, as part of her “All In” theme.
Tour stops include Sept. 7 from 6:30-8 p.m. at East Cobb’s Fullers Park (3499 Robinson Road).
Cupid’s office said the meetings offer residents an opportunity to “learn more about top priorities, which will be followed by networking with staff from county agencies.”
The meeting is free to the public to attend and no RSVP is needed.
Her town halls come after Cobb’s Democratic commissioners voted for a fiscal year 2024 budget of $1.2 billion that didn’t raise the general fund millage rate but that will result in higher tax bills for many residents, due to rising assessments.
Cupid spoke at an East Cobb Civic Association meeting at Fullers Park in late May and was asked at the time if she was considering a rollback to present year 2023 revenue levels. But she stressed the need to meet continuing county funding obligations for public safety personnel, among other things.
Cobb’s two Republican commissioners, including JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb, voted againstthe budget and millage rate.
Cupid, a Democrat, is in her first term and is seeking re-election next year, after serving two terms as District 4 commissioner in South Cobb.
Her office didn’t specify her priorities, but she has been calling for a referendum in 2024 that, if passed, would impose a 30-year “Cobb Mobility SPLOST.”
Commissioners have yet to vote on whether to call a referendum as a consultant is preparing a final project list.
She came under fire this spring during one of her State of the County addresses for lashing out at public commenters who have been critical of her, saying that she didn’t have time to “get my panties in a bunch when people come and criticize us . . . We have lives to help, we have a county to move forward, we have agencies to run.”
Cupid’s other town halls also are scheduled from 6:30-8 p.m. on the following dates and at the following locations:
Monday, Aug. 21 – Ron Anderson Community Center, 3820 Macedonia Road, Powder Springs
Monday, Sept. 25 – South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive, Mableton
Thursday, Oct. 5 – South Cobb Recreation Center, 875 Riverside Pkwy, Austell
Monday, Oct. 9– Cobb Civic Center, 548 South Marietta Parkway, SE Marietta
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Cobb County Public Library System patrons who are homebound can check out books and other materials via a new book-by-mail service.
It’s eligible for library cardholders who have a temporary or permanent disability or who have transportation issues that prevent or limit them from coming to their local branch.
Patrons can check up to four books, CDs and DVDs that are then delivered through the U.S. Postal Service for up to nine weeks, and they will be offered pre-paid postage at no cost to them to return to the materials.
Only one batch of materials at a time can be checked out by any given patron who requests them.
For more information, and to fill out an application form to sign up for the program, click here or call 770-528-2343
Cobb commissioners earlier this year approved spending $21,600 in American Rescue Plan Act for the book-by-mail outreach program.
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Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she didn’t offer a substitute motion to reduce the general fund millage rate by 0.21 mills because she couldn’t get any support.
Cobb’s two Republican commissioners wanted to reduce the general fund millage rate Tuesday before adopting the fiscal year 2024 county budget, but couldn’t get their Democratic colleagues to agree.
Even after more than two dozen citizens pleaded for a cut in the wake of rising property assessments, commissioners voted along party lines to preserve the 8.46 general fund millage rate.
The vote to set the millage rate was 3-2, with the Democrats voting in favor and the Republicans against.
That came after a substitute motion by Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill to roll back the general fund millage rate to 7.168, which would match current FY 2023 revenues.
That motion failed, with Gambrill and fellow Republican JoAnn Birrell voting in favor, and the Democrats opposed.
The vote to adopt the $1.2 billion spending plan, which takes effect on Oct. 1, went along the same 3-2 split.
“I can’t support this budget,” said Birrell, who at a town hall meeting last week said she was working to find a way to cut the general fund rate.
But during a nearly three-hour discussion on the budget Tuesday, she didn’t offer a proposal, saying she couldn’t generate any support from commissioners.
That apparently included Gambrill, whose motion to cut the general fund rate even further took Birrell by surprise.
The difference between the 7.168 and 8.46 mills is 18 percent, according to Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann, and that represents a dollar difference of $54.4 million.
The millage rate action also moved the Cobb fire fund up slightly to 2.99 mills; the rollback rate for that is 2.64 mills.
Residents from around the county spoke during the final public hearing on the millage rate and budget to say that much higher tax bills they’ll pay in October compound their struggles to pay for rising costs for housing, food and utilities.
Some said they or people they know may be priced out of their homes.
Since she moved into her current East Cobb home four years ago, Robin Moody told commissioners her tax bill has gone from $1,900 to $3.500.
“On behalf of Cobb County, we can’t afford this right now,” she said.
Others said that renters will be hurt because their property owners can’t claim homestead exemptions.
A few spoke on behalf of the proposed budget, including Jackie Bettadapur of East Cobb, the former Cobb Democratic Party chairwoman, who asked that the millage rate not be lowered.
She said that Cobb homeowners have been “insulated” with a floating homestead exemption and an exemption from school taxes for homeowners 62 and over, and that the demand for county services is growing, and getting more expensive.
“None of this is free and all of this is subject to inflationary pressures,” she said.
The new budget includes $19 million more in spending than the current FY 2023 budget.
Birrell repeated concerns she expressed at the town hall, saying that while she supports some of the additional spending—especially for public safety salaries and benefits—”these things have to be sustainable.”
She was against the creation of 34 new jobs across county government, and said that her proposed 0.21 mills reduction would take out $8.1 million in spending.
“It’s not much but it’s something,” she said, adding that the only way to stop “overspending” is to roll back millage rate to 7.168.
“Cobb has always been a county that other counties look up to,” Birrell said. “But we’re going in a downward spiral that needs to stop.”
But Democratic commissioner Monique Sheffield of South Cobb said the county has an obligation “as the Good Book tells us” to help and share with others, especially those in need.
She also reminded citizens that for most of them, their school taxes represent the biggest portions of their tax bills—in some cases more than 60 percent—and noted that some of those complaining to the county don’t go to school board meetings.
Last week the Cobb Board of Education lowered its millage rate by 0.2 mills but also adopted a $1.4 billion FY 2024 budget that is higher than last year.
“I urge you to be more vocal at the school board meetings because that’s where the majority of your tax increase is coming from,” Sheffield said.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said the county simply can’t curtail the millage rate because of growing obligations for services, and said that would have “drastic repercussions” because the county staffing levels haven’t fully recovered from recession years.
She referenced a 2016 rollback pushed through by then-Chairman Tim Lee and supported by Birrell that resulted in a $30 million budget deficit.
His successor, Republican Mike Boyce, got a millage rate increase passed in 2018 that Cupid support but Birrell opposed.
“What we’d be essentially doing is going back and not doing what our citizens expect of us,” Cupid said of a rollback.
“This is not easy for anyone, but if we don’t make decisions today we will have even more dire decisions to make tomorrow.”
Commissioners also voted 5-0 to ratify the school board’s millage rate adoption, as it is required to do so by law. When asked if commissioners had any discretion to do otherwise, County Attorney Bill Rowling said such an action would likely lead to litigation.
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Cobb residents have been up in arms over the prospect of higher property tax bills as Cobb commissioners are scheduled on Tuesday to adopt the fiscal year 2024 budget and millage rates.
Commissioners also are being asked by the Cobb County Water System to raise water and sewer service rates for the second time in less than two years.
An item on Tuesday night’s agenda (you can read it here) is seeking an increase that would raise the average residential bill by more than $5 a month.
The water system said it needs the rate adjustment because it’s costing more to buy chemicals, wholesale water and materials and to dispose of biosolids, as well as to fund “planned infrastructure replacements and upgrades.”
The water system says the average residential customer consumes around 5,000 gallons a month, and is charged around $54.85 for water and sewer and a $7 monthly service charge.
“It should be noted that this is among the lowest rates in the Atlanta Metro area, and it is substantially lower than most other major counties,” the agenda item states.
The rate adjustments would raise water commodity charges (the cost per thousand gallons used) by 7.5 percent and sewer commodity charges by 8.5 percent. The water system also is asking to increase the service charge for all meter sizes.
The rate hike, if approved, would go into effect Oct. 1, when the county’s fiscal year 2024 begins.
“Even with the proposed rate adjustment, our rates will remain lower than other major counties in the metro Atlanta area with our average residential customer,” the agenda item states, “paying $1.35 for the delivery of 100 gallons of treated water, removal of the water once used, treatment of the wastewater to a very high standard, and return of the resource to either Allatoona Lake or the Chattahoochee River where it is available for further use and enjoyment.”
Here is a detailed fee schedule the water agency has submitted with its proposal for a rate increase.
She has been opposed to transferring water system revenues to the county’s general fund and has pushed for that amount to be lowered.
Birrell reiterated that objective at a town hall on Wednesday about the budget and millage rate. The proposed budget would reduce water system revenue transfers from 7 percent to 6 percent.
A final hearing on the proposed budget (details here) and millage rate will be conducted by commissioners at the beginning of the meeting (summary agenda here).
The general fund millage rate is proposed to remain at 8.46 mills but because of rising property tax assessments the state considers that a tax increase and hearings are required.
At Birrell’s town hall and elsewhere citizens have pleaded for a reduction in the millage rate. She said she supports a cut but hasn’t determined how much that might be and needs two other votes from commissioners.
Cobb school board members voted Thursday to adopt a fiscal year 2024 millage rate of 18.7 mills, a 0.2 reduction. But school taxes will still be going up as Cobb announced a record tax digest of $58.1 billion for 2023.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting can be found by clicking here.
It begins at 7 p.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell (right) is questioned by East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher, with Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann looking on. ECN photos.
What was designed to be an open house for Cobb homeowners to sort through assessments and tax bills one-on-one with county officials turned into a contentious town hall over a scheduled vote next Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners about whether to lower the millage rate on property taxes.
Many of those in attendance Wednesday at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center in East Cobb took aim at the event’s host, District 3 Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell.
For nearly two hours, she and other county officials took questions—and plenty of broadsides—from residents livid at the proposed fiscal year 2024 Cobb government budget of nearly $1.2 billion that holds the line on the general fund millage rate but that has $53 more in revenues.
Under state law, that constitutes a tax increase, and the county has had to hold three public hearings. The final comes Tuesday, before the budget and millage rate are adopted.
At Wednesday’s event, East Cobb resident Jan Barton, a frequent critic of county government spending and a commenter at public meetings, asked Birrell if she planned on voting to reduce the tax rate.
“I’m working on it,” said Birrell, prompting a number of groans. “I’m one vote in five.”
When a resident accused county officials of “not being able to take the heat,” County Manager Jackie McMorris said that “if we didn’t want to take the heat, we wouldn’t be here.”
Birrell said she’s continuing to meet with county officials about finding areas to cut spending—she doesn’t support funding any new positions, for example—but said “something can be worked out.”
She didn’t specify how much of a cut she might propose and where she might find a third, and decisive vote.
(The Cobb Board of Education passed its fiscal year 2024 budget of $1.4 billion based on a 0.2 millage rate reduction, which it is poised to adopt on Thursday, but there are calls for a larger millage rate cut.)
Birrell is one of two Republicans on the commission. Her GOP colleague, Keli Gambrill, also has said she wants to cut the general fund millage rate, which funds most county government operations.
Citizens at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center asked why the county can’t tighten its belt, since they’re having to.
“We don’t need larger government,” said a 91-year-old man, who added that “I have never seen anything as bad as the crap we’ve got right now.”
Others shouted at, interrupted and openly confronted county officials, including County Manager Jackie McMorris during a two-hour meeting that at times descended into chaos.
There were complaints about the taxpayers’ cost of funding Truist Park and the Cobb special local-option sales tax (SPLOST) that funds maintenance and construction costs unrelated to the operating budget.
When Birrell explained her longstanding effort to reduce the percentage of revenues transferred from the Cobb water system to the general fund—the budget proposal reduces that from 7 to 6 percent—she even got an earful about that.
“Now you’re explaining why people don’t trust government anymore,” East Cobb resident Jim Astuto said.
East Cobb resident Jim Astuto (right) speaks with Cobb CFO Bill Volckmann.
After a woman suggested that citizens stop voting for the SPLOST, McMorris responded that they should be careful what they wish for.
Some growled back at her, and with a bit of sarcasm McMorris said that, “Yes, we wake up every day trying to figure out how to make people mad.”
As Birrell tried to restore order and an open house format, a man standing in the back of room boomed: “It was a non-speaking meeting until everyone started to speak.”
This year’s record Cobb tax digest is $58 billion, is up 15 percent from last year.
Cobb resident Tracy Stephens decries higher spending in the proposed Cobb budget.
That fueled further criticism that the county should learn to do more with less. Bill Volckmann, the county’s chief financial officer, tried to explain that in some categories where spending is higher, a critical factor is a looming recession, and that “we’re trying to prepare.”
That didn’t sit well in the room either.
“As a stupid man sitting on the sidelines, I don’t see how spending more is saving money,” said Tracy Stephens, a home contractor who also has spoken at public hearings on the budget and tax rate.
At a millage rate public hearing on Tuesday, commissioners heard from citizens in South Cobb, including retirees who complained that higher assessments have raised their tax bill by 20 percent or more.
(District 4 commissioner Monique Sheffield, who represents South Cobb, is scheduled to have a town hall meeting on Monday.)
Of the nearly 50 people at Birrell’s town hall, most of them were middle-age and older, including some retirees who said that with inflationary costs for other living expenses, a much higher tax bill threatens to price them out of their homes.
“Some of my neighbors are worried about losing their homes,” said Barton, who handed out a long list of “Questions for Cobb County” prepared by a citizens group, Cobb Tax Revolt.
A woman who just turned 62—making her eligible for the senior exemption from school taxes—said that still won’t help her much.
“I need two other votes,” Birrell said, and explained that her own property assessment has gone up dramatically.
“We’re the people who made East Cobb what it is,” she thundered to applause. “We’re the ones who made the schools what they are. . . . You’re pushing all of us out. We’re getting cheated out of our retirements.”
Birrell replied that “I’m doing the best I can to get support and lower the millage rate.”
She said cutting the rate to the “rollback” rate of being tax neutral to the current-year budget isn’t possible.
There are public safety salary and benefit increases that have been factored in.
“There are other things I don’t agree with that we need to get rid of,” Birrell said. “But I need two other votes.”
East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher asked for the budget and millage rate votes to be postponed, both for Birrell’s purposes and for the public to understand the numbers better.
Mack Cobb, a retired youth sports coach and a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year, referenced the failed East Cobb Cityhood efforts. Opponents said citizens in the proposed city would be paying higher taxes, just as those living in Cobb’s other cities do.
“It got bloody,” he said. “We were told, ‘Don’t vote yes, your taxes will go up.’ Well hello? Thank you very much, but my taxes are going up.”
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“I’m very disappointed that you all are not trying to save us money instead of costing us money,” East Cobb resident John Frank Sanders Jr. told commissioners Tuesday.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners and Cobb Board of Education got an earful this week from Cobb citizens who say their property tax bills will be crippling them and others.
Public hearings are underway as both bodies get ready to set their millage rates for 2023, which has a record tax digest of $58 billion, up 15 percent from last year.
That’s due to tax assessments that across the board are an average of 18 percent higher than last year.
Because neither commissioners nor the school board are “rolling back” to match last year’s revenue collections, the state considers that a tax increase and governing bodies must advertise that and hold hearings.
The proposed fiscal year 2024 Cobb government budget of $1.2 billion includes retaining a general fund tax rate of 8.46 mills. The fiscal year 2024 Cobb County School District budget of $1.4 billion that began July 1 is based on a property tax reduction of 0.2 mills, from 18.9 to 18.7.
But public commenters at those hearings this week said that’s not going to help them that much, and that government should look for ways to tighten its belt when citizens are having to do so.
“I’m very concerned about the most vulnerable members of our community, and that’s the renters,” said Daniel Larkin, a resident of the Meadowbrook neighborhood of East Cobb, at a commission public hearing on Tuesday.
Since rental property owners cannot claim homestead exemptions like homeowners, “they’re going to have to pass the increases on” to their tenants.
“It’s ironic that people talking about affordable housing are driving rising rents” that will hurt tenants more.
The proposed FY Cobb budget is $43 million higher than the current budget, and reflects what county officials say are growing needs for many county services, including fire and emergency services.
Some departments would be getting double-digit percentage increases in their budgets, including public safety.
East Cobb resident Hill Wright likened the county’s appetite for spending to the plight of addicts.
“When they come and bug you to moderate your drug habit, your answer to them is ‘What would you have Cobb County sacrifice? How dare you have Cobb County sacrifice.’ ”
He said when the budget is adopted and the millage rate is set by commissioners on July 25, “you will decide to snort or not to snort.”
John Frank Sanders Jr., who has lived in his East Cobb home since 1982, said Cobb has been a “wonderful place” to live and raise a family.
East Cobb resident Daniel Larkin said commissioners and the school board “are playing a shell game, and there’s no pea under any of the shells.”
“But I can’t believe in the current economic climate we’re debating raising our taxes and not lowering them,” he said, referencing higher costs for groceries, gasoline, housing and interest rates.
“My property value is up but I don’t get the benefit for that. I’m going to live in that house until they drag me out. Yet I have to pay more for that house in addition to all the other expenses that are going up. I’m very disappointed that you all are not trying to save us money instead of costing us money.”
During a budget presentation, Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann said that taking out homestead exemptions, the tax digest growth is closer to 10 percent.
Those exemptions, he said, are 38 percent of residential tax digest, compared to 25 percent less than a decade ago.
“Even if your assessment goes up, you don’t pay any more into the general fund,” he said.
Volckmann also showed a sample tax bill for a resident who saved more than $600 due to the floating homestead exemption.
The Cobb fire fund millage rate, however, doesn’t have that exemption, and that same homeowner would pay $145 more for taxes in that category under the proposed budget.
He also referenced in that bill a rise of nearly $800 in school taxes, even though the Cobb school board lowered the millage rate for the first time in 15 years. But Post 5 board member David Banks of East Cobb wanted a bigger increase, and at budget adoption in May voted present instead.
The school board held two public hearings Thursday for the millage rate, and the small handful of speakers—some who also addressed commissioners—asked them to lower it even more.
Larkin was among them, and he repeated his claims that the commissioners and school board are engaging in “a shell game.
“You’ve made it abundantly clear you’re going to ram this through,” Larkin said, adding that the cutback is “a token percent.”
“I want you to think about the wreckage you’re going to instill on families,” he said. “The rents are very high in this county, and the mortgages are very high. It’s a de facto tax increase. It’s a shell game, but there’s no pea under any of the shells.”
The school board adopted a budget with pay raises for full-time employees between 7.5 percent and 12.1 percent, and the hiring of 11 new officer positions for its police department, which currently has 70 officers.
Laura Judge, an East Cobb resident who is seeking the Post 5 board seat, suggested a tax rate rollback of 0.5 mills, the same as Banks.
“I would like this board and the superintendent and staff to please listen to the folks that come here to ask for some relief on the millage rate,” she said during comments that she later sent out in a press release. “Maybe even listen to the current vice-chair who asked for a rollback of .5 mills.
“I know the budget revolves around what we expected the millage rate to be and rolling back the millage rate means tightening up within our budget. Please listen to the community members who are asking for relief.”
Commissioners will hold another public hearing on the proposed millage rate increase Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and on July 25 at 7 p.m., when they’re scheduled to adopt the hearing and set the millage rate (more info here).
Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell will have an open house on the budget next Wednesday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3322 Sandy Plains Road).
The Cobb school board will have a final millage rate hearing next Thursday at 7 p.m. during its voting session, at which the millage rate is to be formally adopted.
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As far as routine business goes with the Cobb Board of Commissioners, approving neighborhood requests for street lights is as routine as it gets.
When at least 75 percent of a subdivision’s residents sign a petition in favor of pursuing a request for a street light district, that request typically gets added to the commissioners’ consent agenda.
There were four such requests on Tuesday’s consent agenda in various parts of the county.
But for an East Cobb subdivision whose residents include some who’ve wanted street lights for decades, a public hearing was called.
There was some opposition from homeowners living in the Brookcliff subdivision, located off Old Canton Road north of Sewell Mill Road, and a public meeting was requested.
Several others turned out to voice their support for the Brookcliff Street Light District, which would assess a monthly street light service charge for homeowners after the lights are installed by Cobb DOT.
Commissioners voted 5-0 with little discussion to approve the request, but Commissioner JoAnn Birrell noted the novelty of the event, which also was discussed at an agenda work session on Monday.
She said in her more than 12 years in office, she doesn’t recall such a hearing over street lights.
The public hearing and ensuing conversation Tuesday spanned more than a half-hour.
Brookcliff opened in the early 1980s and comprises 155 homes, which are valued in the $400,000 range and above.
It’s a neighborhood of rolling hills straddling Sewell Mill Creek to the north. Like many East Cobb subdivision, it has a formal homeowners association with mandatory dues for homeowners who must abide by legally binding requirements and covenants.
Brookcliff also has a swim/tennis facility and other regular activities, such as a garden club and book club.
What Brookcliff doesn’t have are sidewalks and street lights. Some residents have been eager for the latter for almost as long as they have lived there.
Brookcliff resident Walt Strother
Walt Strother, one of the original homeowners of Brookcliff, said during the hearing that trying to get street lights “was never a spur of the moment decision or effort. For the better part of the last 40 years, several marginal attempts have been made, most recently 20 years ago.”
But ineffective HOA leadership and organization undermined those attempts, Strother said.
Three years ago, he added, “there was a collective enough is enough,” beginning a 27-month journey to making a formal application.
That’s 85 percent in response to the question “What can we do to make Brookcliff a better place to live?”
Strother said the response “was immediate and overwhelming. Street lights.”
He noted that Cobb officials in the late 1970s expressed a desire for all neighborhoods to have street lights.
The Brookcliff POA has collected $45,778 in fees from residents to be forwarded to Cobb DOT, which will install poles and lights.
Residents will pay $9.80 a month for 36 months for installation and upfront fees, then will be billed $3.80 a month after that by the Cobb County Water System.
One of his Brookcliff neighbors, Mike Gault, moved there in 1996, and said “Brookcliff has always been an incredibly dark” neighborhood.
He said when he first moved there, he would walk his black Lab at night after work and spent a lot of time dodging cars.
Gault said the lack of street lights also has been an issue with school bus stops in the winter, with shorter daylight hours.
Cindy Krakowski, a Brookcliff homeowner, was opposed to the new street light district, saying the HOA doesn’t have the authority to use money collected for swimming and tennis use, and claimed the organization was in the red by $54,000 this year.
“They knew if they had to ask every homeowner in the neighborhood for $300 for this initiative, they wouldn’t have gotten 75 percent of the votes,” she said.
Mike Kelly, the current Brookcliff POA president, said the body has met the street light requirements and that it properly followed by-laws in doing so.
In referring to Krakowski’s claims, he said “disengagement from the process is not an excuse” and that the POA reached out extensively to residents for feedback, communication and meetings.
He said the $45,788 sum represents the highest cash balance in the POA’s history and in a slide he showed during the hearing, indicated it would be ahead of budget after paying for the street lights.
“There is no diversion of funds,” said Kelly, noting that the street light request was included as a line-item in the POA budget. “There’s no question there’s a mandate from Brookcliff.”
More than 85 percent of Brookcliff residents said they wanted street lights.
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Despite another year of double-digit growth in the county tax digest, the Cobb government fiscal year 2024 budget proposal does not include a reduction in property tax millage rates.
Cobb budget officials presented a fiscal year 2024 budget proposal of $1.2 billion on Tuesday to the Cobb Board of Commissioners (you can read it here), a $43 million increase from the current fiscal year budget of $1.16 billion.
The budget proposal holds the line on the general fund millage rate, which funds most county government operations, at 8.46 mills.
Because that millage rate is not proposed to be rolled back to reflect current revenue and tax digest levels, the state considers that a tax increase and the county must advertise and hold public hearings.
Those hearings will take place on Tuesday, July 11 at 9 a.m., Tuesday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. and on Tuesday, July 25, at 7 p.m., when the board is scheduled to adopt the budget and set millage rates.
For the second year in a row, the fire fund millage rate that funds fire and emergency services would go up slightly, to 2.99 mills.
Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann said some of the increases in additional revenues in the proposed budget stem from rising tax assessments.
The Cobb Board of Tax Assessors on Wednesday approved the 2023 county tax digest of $58.1 billion, which is up 15.7 percent from last year.
While that figure combines the assessed value of all commercial, residential and other real property in Cobb County, homeowners are feeling the pinch of skyrocketing assessments, and as the average price of a home has surpassed $400,000.
At an East Cobb Civic Association meeting in May, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid was asked by East Cobb Newsif she was pondering similar relief.
She said she had been hearing from many citizens about their assessments, and said “she couldn’t say” if she would be proposing a cut.
“I could do it and look good,” Cupid said, “but somebody’s going to have to pay the price.”
The proposed FY 2024 budget includes 34 new positions across county government, compared to 147 in the current budget.
Nineteen of those new jobs would be funded through the general fund, and six of them are state-mandated. Four more are for the county’s family advocacy center.
Another 15 jobs are outside of general fund, seven in fire, and in 911.
Volckmann said the fire and emergency services department is struggling to maintain operating revenue due to salaries and benefits for personnel, and that there aren’t capital expenses that are a factor.
Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann
This is the second year of Cobb’s 2022-24 biennial budget process, and some agencies are proposed to have double-digit increases in spending.
A total of $198 million is being earmarked for agencies overseen by elected officials (Board of Commissioners, Sheriff, District Attorney, courts), an increase of 35 percent from fiscal 2023.
Administrative costs are up to $111 million, or nearly a 20 percent jump, and the overall public safety budget is $97 million, or 17 percent higher than the current year.
Budgets for public services (parks, libraries, senior centers, etc.) would go up by 10 percent, as would the budget for support services, which includes facilities and property management, technology and information services and fleet management.
The other proposed millage rates include the Debt Service (Bond Fund) millage at 0.00 mills; the Cumberland Special Services District II millage rate at 2.45, and the Six Flags Special Service District millage rate at 3.50.
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Register with Cobb Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer and Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
Mike Register was a man of few words Tuesday, but he insisted on having a lot of people share in his return as Cobb Public Safety Director.
Cobb commissioners on Tuesday voted 5-0 to formally appoint Register to come back to his old job.
For the last year he has been the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and served as a deputy to Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens.
Register succeeds Randy Crider, who retired at the end of last year and was among those in attendance.
“Thank you for the opportunity to come back,” said Register, who was Cobb police chief and public safety director from 2017-2019.
Many of those he previously served with posed with him for photo ops, along with his wife and retired Cobb NAACP director Deane Bonner.
“Let’s do our job, let’s make Cobb County a better place for all,” he said, noting it’s been a “hard week” in the Cobb public safety community.
A former Cobb Sheriff’s deputy passed away, as did the 18-year-old daughter of Col. Eric Yeager, a 35-year Sheriff’s Office veteran.
Register wore a purple tie in honor of Kylie Yeager, a Marietta High School graduate.
“I’m glad to be home and appreciate the opportunity,” Register said.
Before the vote, Cupid said that “this is a decision [commissioners] all agreed on.”
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell told Register afterward “welcome home.” We’re glad to have you.”
In other action Tuesday, commissioners voted 5-0 to approve spending $720,897 for a sidewalk connecting the Walton High School campus on Bill Murdock Road with a new sports complex on Pine Road at Providence Road.
Commissioners also voted 5-0 to spend $204,000 for state and federal legislative consulting services with Dentons US LLP for 12 months.
Birrell also announced the appointment of East Cobb resident Susan Hampton to the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission.
She’s a banking and financial services professional who is the co-chair of the Cobb Public Safety Foundation, which provides support to public safety personnel.
Hampton replaces Larry Sernovitz, who resigned last week as rabbi at Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb.
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Photo submitted to East Cobb News from an anonymous reader. The Neo-Nazi group left the scene around 10 p.m. Saturday.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution condemning a Neo-Nazi protest last weekend in front of the Chabad of Cobb synagogue in East Cobb.
The resolution was added to the commissioners’ agenda and was voted on without discussion.
The resolution (you can read it here) also mentioned the distribution of anti-Semitic flyers in metro Atlanta neighborhoods in recent weeks, including some in Cobb:
“WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners recognizes that any group has the right to free speech and the ability to peacefully protest, demonstrate, and distribute information regarding its beliefs, no matter how reprehensible to others; and
“WHEREAS, when such speech threatens any person, minority group, or religious community, residents should respond by educating others with voices and actions as loud as those spreading the hateful speech;
“NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners does hereby denounce the actions of those who threaten members of our community, attempt to shatter the belief that Cobb County is a safe and welcoming place, and call for all to stand against their hate speech and attempts to divide our county.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid made the motion to approve, and District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson seconded it.
Here’s a portion of Cupid’s statement:
“While disheartened these messages were spread in our county, I appreciate that these events ended peacefully. Our public safety personnel have our complete support, as do members of the Jewish community and those in Cobb who find these displays reprehensible.
“My desire is for no one to perpetuate a heinous history that signifies hate in our county. Cobb is a community that is moving forward, together, and where we are all in, in establishing a county where all can safely live, work, and enjoy.”
And Richardson’s statement:
These actions do not represent the values of the East Cobb community that I know. As soon as I heard where this was going on, I went to the Synagogue. There, I found the most remarkable display of the community coming together to chant, defend, and support our Jewish sisters and brothers at the Synagogue.
On Sunday, there were among many public elected officials who issued denunciations of the protest, which included around 10 people from the Goyim Defense League.
Gov. Brian Kemp, U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and state lawmakers also issued statements agains the protest, which was the second incident in Georgia involving the GDL last week. A similar event took place in Macon on Friday, and a public rally of support for a synagogue there was held in response.
A number of other faith communities and organizations also issued calls of support for Chabad, including the Etz Chaim and Temple Kol Emeth synagogues in East Cobb.
A prayer event was scheduled for Wednesday evening at East Cobb United Methodist Church.
And the Georgia chapter of the Council on Islamic American Relations also issued a statement:
“We condemn this deeply-disturbing antisemitic incident and stand in unwavering solidarity with the Jewish community in the face of blind hatred. Such abhorrent acts of hate and bigotry have no place in our society and must be unequivocally condemned. Together, we will stand against this hatred and work toward a future in which every individual can live free from fear and discrimination.”
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She suggested that perhaps state lawmakers could revisit the 2022 law allowing for local mobility referenda to create some exemptions from the tax in certain categories of sales.
