Ex-commission chair joins Cobb Taxpayers’s Association board

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Bill Byrne, who served as Cobb Commission Chairman from 1993—2002, has been named to the board of the Cobb Taxpayers Association.

Ex-commission chair joins Cobb Taxpayers Association board
“Byrne’s appointment to our Board comes at a critical time for the County,” Cobb Taxpayers Association Chairman Lance Lamberton said.

The citizens group made the announcement Friday, and Byrne will serve as one of six board members, including chairman Lance Lamberton and vice chairman Jim Astuto, an East Cobb resident.

“We are flattered that someone of Bill Byrne’s stature has agreed to serve on our board,” Lamberton said in a statement. “In his 10 years as BOC Chairman, he served with distinction and presided over a period of historic business and residential growth in the County. That record of accomplishment, combined with his strong commitment towards the taxpayer’s best interests, will bode well for CTA in the next year and a half.”

The Cobb Taxpayers Association was founded in 2005 and scrutinizes Cobb County government finances, spending and tax issues. In the past it has been opposed to extending the Cobb Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) that funds construction and maintenance projects for county government and public schools.

“Byrne’s appointment to our Board comes at a critical time for the County, which is facing the threat of one of the largest tax increases in its history,” Lamberton said, referring to a proposed transit tax which could be on the November 2024 ballot.

Cobb commissioners in March voted to approve spending more $500,000 to hire three separate consulting firms to help the Cobb Department of Transportation prepare for the referendum.

Lamberton spoke at that meeting against the tax, saying that “if mass transit is so dad gum important to you, then move to a place where it makes sense. That place is not Cobb County.”

Earlier this year, Lamberton filed an ethics complaint against a member of the Cobb Transit Advisory Board, but that was dismissed by the Cobb Board of Ethics last month.

Lisa Cupid, the current Cobb Commission Chairwoman, is floating a 30-year transit tax, but the current board’s two Republicans are opposed to anything longer than five years.

Commissioners would determine the length of a sales tax referendum, and more public feedback is being sought.

In the Cobb Taxpayers Association release, Byrne said that “I believe the County has lost its way over the past two decades, and has adopted a tax and spend policy which would have been unthinkable while I was BOC Chairman. But through it all, CTA has fought tooth and nail against the tax and spending interests, and has some impressive wins in its column despite being outspent by its opponents by as much as 100 to one.”

Byrne ran for his old job in 2012, but was defeated by then-incumbent Tim Lee in a Republican runoff.

Speaking to the East Cobb Civic Association this week, Cupid said that a transit tax—which would fund road as well as mass transit projects—has “never been put out to vote” in Cobb’s history.

“We have a lot of people that are not able to access workforce opportunities” due to a lack of mass transit opportunities in Cobb, she said, adding that “a lot of businesses are bypassing Cobb” as a result.

The only CobbLinc bus line in the East Cobb area runs along Powers Ferry Road. A previous line that traversed Roswell Road linking Marietta with Sandy Springs was discontinued in 2011 as part of budget cuts due to the recession.

“I would ask that you consider that there are others among you who can utilize this service,” Cupid said.

She said at the same meeting that she “can’t say” for now if she’ll propose rolling back the county’s general fund millage rate this year despite skyrocketing property assessments.

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