On Tuesday Cobb commissioners will be asked to approve taking out $64 million in short-term loans.
It’s become a regular proceeding for both the county government and the Cobb school board. The Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs) allow governing bodies to take out the loans, which are payable at the end of a calendar year, for a variety of reasons.
UPDATED: Commissioners approved the request by a 4-0 vote.
The Cobb Board of Education took out $90 million in TANs in December to get a head start on construction projects in the new Cobb Ed-V SPLOST collection period.
In the case of Cobb government, the short-term loans bridge a spending gap until the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. Cobb property taxes are collected in the fall of each year.
Last year Cobb commissioners took out $90 million in TANs, which are low-interest obligation notes and are subject to a bidding process.
This year, the county says it won’t know exactly how much the savings will be until the end of June, when the loans are formally taken out. Cobb finance director Bill Volckmann estimates that figure range from $300,000 to $400,000.
The short-term loan action comes right before the formal fiscal year 2020 budget proposal comes before the commissioners.
Chairman Mike Boyce will recommend his budget on July 8 at 1:30 p.m. Three public hearings will follow, with adoption scheduled for July 23. The hearings will be on July 9, 16, and 23.
That includes an across-the-board pay increase, more Sunday library hours and a reduction in transfer funds from the Cobb water system, all without a millage increase.
He also wants a bigger raise for public safety employees, who’ve been showing up in droves to demand additional compensation, retention and other measures to improve what some have called a crisis.
Last month commissioners approved a one-time bonus, at Boyce’s request, for some Cobb police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies that will take effect in August.
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East Cobb citizens had their say at several budget town hall meetings this summer, including at the Sewell Mill Library on July 9, shortly before commissioners voted to raise property taxes. (East Cobb News file photo)
Whenever the subject of a Cobb tax increase comes up, those who say “no” the loudest and most often quite often have prevailed.
Especially after I returned to the county in 1990, the “nos” have frequently had the ear of elected officials.
They have done almost anything to heed those citizens who urge them to: Cut wasteful spending. Impose a hiring freeze. Take care of needs instead of wants. Live within your means, just like we do.
These have been the bedrock principles of low-tax conservatism for as long as I can remember growing up in Cobb County.
Cobb became a magnet for new residents and businesses in large part because of low taxes. That’s still a big attraction, but so are good government services and schools. As a result, Cobb’s explosive growth, especially in the last 30 years, has generated another constituency.
These citizens, coming from all across the county, and representing many demographic and socioeconomic classes and interest levels, effectively countered the “no” forces during the budget deliberations that concluded this week with a general fund property tax rate increase of 1.7 mills.
Those citizens have been extremely vocal over the past few months about supporting the services they feared were being imperiled as a $30 million deficit loomed.
As draft lists were made public about potential “savings” in library and park services, the UGA Cobb Extension service and other small-bore line items, these citizens formed their own groups. Some started on Facebook, then fanned out to attend budget town hall meetings and public hearings and urged their members to tell commissioners what they valued.
They were every bit as active and organized as those who opposed a tax increase. At this point, the naysayers may wish to point out that citizens were whipped up into a frenzy by Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, who cited the need for a millage rate increase to keep Cobb “a five-star county.”
I wrote previously that there was some emotional blackmail involved as these lists were made public. I also wrote that a tax increase was likely. For far too long, Cobb elected officials have been fearful of getting an earful from those who always say “no.”
The problem with always saying no is that the provision of services wasn’t keeping up with the demand. Even as Cobb’s population grew from 450,000 in 1990 to more than 750,000 today, commissioners were gradually reducing the millage rate.
A post-recession situation emerged in which library hours hadn’t been restored, Cobb DOT maintenance crews hadn’t been replenished and the county had to hire dozens of new police officers.
Members of the Cobb Master Gardeners spoke in favor of preserving the UGA Cobb Extension Service.
As I listened to those who were saying “yes,” I heard the voices of Cobb citizens adamantly insisting that the services they valued were worth a few extra dollars a month on their tax bill.
Among those standing up were members of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. I’ve been hearing from them all summer. They work with the UGA Cobb Extension Office, which runs the local 4-H program and gets equal funding from the county and the state.
Also saying “yes” were some citizens who identified themselves as fiscal conservatives. These weren’t garden variety Berkeley radicals but suburban gardeners. They were also library and arts patrons and everyday people not prone to political activism.
None of those saying “yes” that I heard this summer are wild about a tax increase. I’m certainly not, but Cobb leaders have been dodging this bullet for too many years. After playing ball with the Atlanta Braves, they cut the millage rate in 2016, right before SunTrust Park became operational.
To me, that was the height of fiscal irresponsibility. Yet many proud fiscal conservatives have ignored that this summer, or belatedly sprung to action. The local newspaper fulminated in a thunderclap editorial that Boyce went against his promises of no new taxes, and fretted that “conservatism has fallen out of fashion” yet again.
(I’d argue that real, principled conservatism went out of fashion when the four members of the commission who are Republicans voted to subsidize a baseball stadium, an action the daily printed edition uncritically approved. The lone Democrat, occasionally slammed by the same publication, cast the only vote against it.)
Earlier this month, citizens against a tax increase lobbied for a hiring freeze, even as DOT, public safety and other positions have been frozen for several years.
The day before the budget vote, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution against a tax increase with plenty of boilerplate language, but no tangible suggestions to balance the budget.
Commissioner Bob Ott
JoAnn Birrell and Bob Ott, East Cobb’s commissioners, were on the short end of the 3-2 vote. Birrell wanted a smaller increase, Ott wanted to see more proposed spending cuts.
The decisive vote was cast by Bob Weatherford, drubbed the day before in a runoff against a tax increase opponent, but who said it was time for the county to invest its future.
Though his support for a tax increase may have cost him his political future, Weatherford’s rationale was certainly different than what we’re accustomed to in Cobb. So is Boyce’s, whether he runs for re-election in two years or not. Both are Republicans.
What looms ahead remains uncertain. I wonder if 1.7 mills will be enough of an increase to avoid another rough budget process next year. There are efficiencies that have to be considered that Boyce ignored in this budget.
Ott offered some sound spending proposals that deserve attention. Foremost is reforming the county’s existing defined benefit pension plan, which is a ticking time bomb for many governments. SPLOST reform also must be addressed.
More than anything, I hope citizens who participated in the budget battle this summer, both in favor of a tax hike or against, continue to stay active. Their voices and diligence and willingness to question how their money is being spent are needed.
No matter your views on a tax increase, it was encouraging to see such vigorous civic involvement, especially from those who don’t normally speak out.
Before Wednesday’s vote, former Gov. Roy Barnes, who holds a 4-H gala at his Marietta home every fall, said to the commissioners that local government is “government in the raw.”
We may be about to find out what that truly means, even after this grueling summer.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce took his call for a property increase to citizens for several months, including town hall meetings this summer. (East Cobb News file photo)
After more than three hours of public speakers and comments from commissioners, a Cobb tax increase was approved Wednesday night.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a property tax hike of 1.7 mills and a fiscal year budget of $454 million for the general fund.
Chairman Mike Boyce, who said he was staking his political future on the outcome, got everything he wanted.
In addition to getting the vote of South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat on the five-member board, he also got the vote of Republican Bob Weatherford, who as it turned out may have sacrificed his political future in the process.
Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell, who represent East Cobb in Districts 2 and 3, respectively, voted against the budget and the millage rate increase.
While Ott said he wouldn’t support an increase without spending cuts that weren’t presented, Birrell said she would have been in favor of a hike of 1.2 or 1.3 mills but nothing more.
Weatherford, defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday night in a Republican runoff in North Cobb’s District 1 by an anti-tax increase opponent, proved to be the swing vote.
He said after reflecting on his big loss (59-41 percent to Keli Gambrill) that he naturally wondered what had gone wrong.
“It’s what I did right that people didn’t like,” said Weatherford, who will have served only one term. “I made the hard choices and did what I said I would do.”
He said that he’s been threatened and even challenged to a fistfight for his calls for a lesser tax increase than what passed.
“The only thing I’m running for now is the hills, but I do not want to leave the county worse than than when I got here,” he said.
“So I completely support this.”
With that, loud applause broke out in the commissioners’ meeting chambers.
But plenty of citizens spoke against a tax increase, saying the county had a spending problem and wasn’t looking for efficiencies.
The 1.7 mills would push the general fund rate to 8.46 mills, generate around $47 million in additional revenue, and go beyond solving what Boyce has said is a projected $30 million deficit for FY 2019. The extra funds include $15 million more for public safety and the restoration of some Sunday library hours.
East Cobb residents Debbie Fisher and Jan Barton, vigorously opposed to a tax hike, continued to dispute the severity of the deficit.
Pamela Reardon, an East Cobb realtor and 1st vice chair of the Cobb Republican Party, which passed a resolution Tuesday against a tax increase, said the county must “learn to live within its means,” especially with a record county tax digest in 2018.
Another East Cobb resident, retiree Frank Maleski, recited a long list of taxes he pays and said “I can’t afford to pay for any more government.”
Other East Cobb residents were adamant in support of a tax hike.
One of them is attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents Cobb public safety personnel. The budget will fund 23 more police officer positions as well as vehicles and body cameras.
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb and District 2.
He worried that failing to provide resources to police officers and sheriff’s deputies would prompt existing personnel to look elsewhere for better opportunities.
Another is JoEllen Smith, who ran as Republican for a legislative seat in East Cobb in 2013. She said she estimated her tax bill would go up by around $200 a year, or $16 a month. The weekly boost of around $4, she told commissioners, amounted to a cup of coffee.
“I’d give up a Starbucks so police can have whatever the hell they want,” said Smith, who apologized for her language.
In lengthy prepared remarks, Ott outlined many reasons for voting for any tax increase at all, including the fact that many of the services that were listed as possible cost savings—including parks, libraries and the Cobb animal services program—were not included in Boyce’s budget.
He likened this budget to the 2016 Cobb government SPLOST, which he said had a lot of “wants” but not much in the way of “needs.”
He also advocated that the county consider a regional library concept to consolidate branches that are little-used.
While “nothing on my list is absolute,” Ott said the county has to grapple with growing concerns like employee pensions and pay increases, especially when “the tax digest is the highest it’s ever been.”
Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb who’s been vilified in the Marietta paper in the days leading up to the vote, said “I didn’t have to do the town halls. But I believe in the people in this county. This is how I govern. I talk to you. I want you to tell us what’s on your mind.”
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb, says a tax hike is necessary to move the county forward. (East Cobb News file photo)
While runoff election results were coming in on Tuesday, word was getting out that the Cobb Republican Party urged commissioners not to raise property taxes when they vote on the fiscal year 2019 county budget tonight.
Earlier Tuesday, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution encouraging the commissioners and all elected officials to “exercise fiscal restraint” and called a proposed tax hike “an undue burden on the community.”
The resolution will be presented by Cobb GOP chairman Jason Shepherd tonight as the Cobb Board of Commissioners is holding its final public hearings on the budget and millage rate at 7 p.m., before adopting both.
The resolution states, in part that:
“Cobb County Government should only provide services not readily available in the private sector and which are not core services of local civil government, especially when facing a budget shortfall;”
Also:
” . . . there have been several examples identified of waste in Cobb County Government spending, and no operational audit of the county government has been performed, nor have any reductions in spending been proposed at the townhall meetings hosted by the Chairman, but many increases in spending have been proposed . . . and a tax increase would be an undue burden on the community.”
The resolution comes at the end of a final push for and against Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills tax increase.
He’s taken his proposed $453 million general fund budget around the county at town hall meetings, and citizens on both sides of a tax hike have been vocal.
The Cobb GOP is making a strong statement on a five-member board with four Republican members, including Boyce, who’s from East Cobb. He’s said the tax hike would help move the county forward beyond solving a projected fiscal year 2019 deficit of $30 million.
“It’s $30 million in an economy of billions. You would think we’re living in Albania! I just don’t understand.”
The Cobb GOP’s resolution echoes the calls of tax hike opponents who said the county needs to do more to find efficiencies, but is aimed at Republican votes on the commission.
District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb has said the vote “is very close right now” and said she is considering all comments from constituents.
Another Republican commissioner, who has been targeted by tax increase opponents, lost his bid for re-election last night. Bob Weatherford of District 1 in North Cobb was easily defeated in a runoff by Keli Gambrill, a first-time political candidate, who campaigned against a tax increase. She will join the commission in January since she has no Democratic opponent in the general election.
Weatherford still has a vote tonight, and he and Birrell said at a public hearing last week that a compromise figure on a millage rate increase could be likely.
Commissioner Bob Ott, a Republican who represents East Cobb in District 2, has said he opposes the budget proposal without any significant spending cuts.
Boyce has the support of South Cobb Commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat, who thinks an additional 1.7 mills is not enough.
The public hearings and commissioners meeting takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott (L) and JoAnn Birrell at a budget retreat in June. (East Cobb News file photo)
While voters are going to the polls in today’s election runoffs, county elected officials are preparing to vote on a Cobb budget proposal on Wednesday that’s been months in the making, and hashing out.
Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, citizens will have their final say in required public hearings for the fiscal year 2019 budget and 2018 property tax millage rate held by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The commissioners will vote on both at the same meeting. It takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.
Commissioners heard plenty from citizens on both sides of a proposed tax increase of 1.7 mills last week, and the vote will probably be a very close one.
The budget and millage rate votes are being delayed a day due to the Tuesday runoffs.
Commission chairman Mike Boyce is proposing a $453 million general fund budget that includes the hiring of police officers and partial restoration of Sunday library hours cut during the recession.
While supporters of the tax increase include library and UGA Cobb Extension advocates, critics said Boyce didn’t look hard enough for cuts to reduce a projected $30 million deficit.
Citizen groups were urging their supporters early this week to make final contact with commissioners about the vote.
Rachel Slomovitz of East Cobb, who created the Save Cobb Libraries group and who supports a tax increase, posted on Facebook Sunday that “starting tomorrow until Wednesday night we need your voice. We need you to email or call your Commissioner, and tell them you want the libraries to remain open, in business and don’t want to see them on the chopping block.”
Members of the Cobb chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which opposes a tax hike, were knocking on doors Monday in District 3 in Northeast Cobb. That’s represented by commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who said the vote is “very close right now” and that she is considering every letter and call from constituents.
AFP also canvassed over the weekend in District 1 in North Cobb. That’s where commissioner Bob Weatherford is in a Republican runoff today against Keli Gambrill, who’s against a tax increase.
“We will have green shirts and signs [at Wednesday’s meeting] to let our commissioners know that we adamantly oppose the property tax hike and that our citizens are calling for fiscal viability as the baseline for our county’s governance,” AFP said in an e-mail communication to supporters.
Birrell is leery of a 1.7 millage rate increase, although she said the budget can’t be balanced on cuts alone. She said a compromise might be the best solution, and Weatherford said a likely figure the commission might settle on is a hike between 1.1 and 1.7 mills.
Boyce, of East Cobb, and Lisa Cupid of South Cobb’s District 4 support the increase, although Cupid thinks it should be higher.
Commissioner Bob Ott, of District 2 in East Cobb, has said he would not vote for the proposed budget without seeing more spending cuts.
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Mike Boyce he wants Cobb to return to a more stabilized millage rate that existed before the recession: “Let’s just get to one number and leave it alone.” East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker
In his final town hall meeting, Mike Boyce told East Cobb citizens Monday night that his proposed Cobb tax increase of 1.7 mills is necessary because it “keeps everything open that’s open now” and would restore some popular and necessary services to their pre-recession levels.
In a packed black box studio at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, the Cobb commission chairman received a mixed response for his call to return Cobb to “the golden days” of a stable millage rate before the recession and provide the level of services worthy of what he has called a “five-star county.”
He wants to use the 1.7 mills not only to cover a projected $30 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2019, but to add another $20 million for resumption of services that have been affected by budget cuts for several years.
“What is it that you want pay for, what you used to have and that you want again?” he asked the crowd, drawing some applause.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold the first of three required public hearings on the tax increase proposal Tuesday at 9 a.m. It’s on the second floor of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
Monday’s meeting was the seventh budget town hall Boyce has held around the county over the last month, and like the others he asked citizens to let their commissioners know their budget priorities.
His proposed $454 million FY 2019 budget is a 12 percent increase over the current $405 million budget, and would raise the general fund millage rate from 6.76 to 8.46 mills.
Boyce wants to spend an additional $15 million for public safety, including the hiring of 23 police officers and providing officers with body cameras.
He would expand library hours to Sunday at select locations and restore hours to what they were before the recession.
He also wants to restore maintenance positions in Cobb DOT, including the hiring of mowers for rights-of-way on county roads. Currently those are positions that are contracted out for six months, but bringing them under county auspices would allow for year-round work.
In the run-up to the town halls, staff department head lists of potential cuts for commissioners to consider were made public, and quickly galvanized supporters of the county library and parks systems.
Those items included Fullers Park, the home of East Side Baseball, and the Fullers Recreation Center, where East Marietta Basketball is based.
Members of the Cobb Master Gardeners have been vocal in asking to preserve the UGA Cobb Extension Service.
Richard Benson, a coach, volunteer and board member of East Side Baseball, brought several members of the East Side Chargers team with him, and wearing their same jersey, told Boyce that “I can’t fathom the thought that they might not have a place to play baseball.”
Boyce said the list was only a “working product,” and that “I know of no commissioner who wanted to close a park at anytime.”
Not only are current parks facilities all preserved in Boyce’s budget, he told the audience, to applause, that “we don’t have enough parks.”
Also in attendance, wearing light green shirts, were members of the Cobb Master Gardeners, who work closely with the UGA Cobb Extension Service, which had been initially targeted for possible closure but is funded in Boyce’s budget proposal.
Tax increase opponents also were out in force, and some demanded that Boyce point to spending cuts to help alleviate the deficit. Only one slide presented savings thus far, a combined $1.7 million.
Boyce said his budget staff is continuing to do that. “We’re not done finding efficiencies,” he said.
East Cobb citizen Debbie Fisher, a strong opponent of a tax increase.
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, who was not at Monday’s town hall in his District 2, has said he wants to see significant budget cuts before he would agree to any kind of tax increase.
He did attend a public meeting held Friday by opponents, including Debbie Fisher and Jan Barton of East Cobb. They handed out flyers on Monday from the Georgia Taxpayers Association, a petition to “cut wasteful spending and property taxes.”
Fisher inquired about what she claimed was $106 million in excess funding from the 2005 and 2011 Cobb SPLOSTs, but Boyce told her “there’s nothing left.” It got a little heated when she asked why she couldn’t find any related documents online. Boyce said she was welcome to come to county offices anytime.
In a post-town hall letter, Barton, who previously tried to raise the same point with Boyce but was passed over, wrote the following:
“We felt that citizens with dissenting questions/opinions against the tax hike were not allowed to ask questions in Town Halls and wanted to give everyone a forum where the other side of the story could be explained. A Town Hall is supposed to be for all citizens/taxpayers.”
After the town hall, Benson said he felt better about what he heard from Boyce about the parks, and that he’s been communicating with commissioners about keeping them open.
East Cobb resident Rachel Slomovitz, who created the Save Cobb Libraries group and started a petition to raise taxes that she said has received more than 2,100 signatures, said after the town hall that “there’s still so much uncertainty in the air.”
While she supports Boyce’s budget and commissioner Lisa Cupid’s call for restoring services, she’s still “strongly encouraging” the three other commissioners as well.
“We’re asking for books and baseball,” she said, pointing toward the East Side Chargers players. “The basics.”
Commissioners will hold public hearings on July 17 and 25, with budget adoption also scheduled for July 25.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce wants a 1.7 mills property tax increase to cover a projected $30 million deficit. (East Cobb News file photo)
The details of the fiscal year 2019 Cobb budget proposal will be made at a Cobb Board of Commissioners work session on Monday, with a final town hall meeting Monday night in East Cobb.
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce has taken the outlines of his proposed $453 million budget around the county to the public in the last month. Monday’s work session starts at 1:30 p.m., followed by his final town hall meeting at 7 p.m. at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road).
The county has produced an interactive, Cobb’s Budget Journey, to detail the deficit, as well as spending and tax rate history over nearly three decades.
Boyce is proposing a general fund property tax increase of 1.7 mills, which would cover the $30 million gap.
Critics of the tax increase held a town hall meeting of their own Friday, and they included East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher, who put together a scathing critique of Boyce’s budget. Click here for the PDF: Town Hall Presentation -Revised.
Entitled “Truth or Fiction,” the PDF points out that Boyce hasn’t proposed any spending cuts and denounces what it calls the “homestead exemption blame game.”
It also suggests some “hard choices” that include cutting the 5-10 percent of low-performing county employees, outsource fleet management, human resources and the county attorney’s office and increase employee health care and pension contributions.
“We don’t have a revenue problem! We have a spending problem,” declares the presentation. “No more taxes until you cut spending.”
On Tuesday, commissioners will hold the first of three required public hearings on the budget, at 9 a.m. in their chambers on the 2nd floor of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
The other public hearings are scheduled on July 17 at 6:30 p.m., and on July 25 at 7 p.m., in the same location. Commissioners are set to adopt the budget on July 25.
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An overflow crowd at the East Cobb Senior Center heard Mike Boyce defend his proposed fiscal year 2019 budget of $453 million that would result in a Cobb tax increase.
The Cobb commission chairman’s goal, as he asserted several times during a nearly 90-minute town hall meeting Monday night, is to return to a “level, sustainable millage rate” the county enjoyed before the recession.
He said his proposed increase of 1.7 mills as part of revised budget from an original proposed hike of 1.1 mills, would generate $50 million in additional revenue per year.
Not only would that solve the projected $30 million budget deficit for FY 2019, but it would also replenish reserve funding commissioners have used in recent years to avoid a tax hike.
Cobb government included this tax chart in its revised budget proposal last week.
Several weeks after possible closures of libraries, parks and other “desired” services were made public, Boyce denied threatening to close any of those facilities.
But he said if his fellow commissioners couldn’t agree at least to an extra 1.1 mills, “we will close things. But that’s up to the commissioners.”
After urging citizens to communicate with their commissioners about ensuring those services with a tax increase, there was vigorous applause in the room.
Many citizens were wearing stickers in support of Cobb libraries. Others came on behalf of parks, recreation centers and The Art Place, located next door to the senior center and included on a draft list of options for closure.
Others were opposed to any tax increase, including Lance Lamberton of the Cobb Taxpayers Association, who brought a sign saying “Cut Waste.”
Monday’s meeting was the first of several Boyce is holding through early July, before commissioners are to adopt the budget by the end of next month.
He prefaced his remarks with charts predicting Cobb’s budget shortfall in 2014, with significant rising costs anticipated for the county pension fund, a pay increase for roughly half of county employees and public safety needs.
In public statements, Boyce has noted for several weeks how Cobb’s millage rate has decreased steadily since 1990, even though the county population has risen dramatically, from 450,000 then to more than 750,000 today.
After a 1.51 mills increase in 2011 during the recession, the general fund millage rate went down, again, including a decrease in 2016, right before Boyce defeated then-chairman Tim Lee in a runoff.
Currently, it’s 6.76 mills.
Last year, commissioners spent nearly $20 million in reserves to balance a $405 million general fund budget, leaving only $2.6 million on hand now.
“We simply need to buy things we haven’t bought,” Boyce said.
His revised budget would fund an additional 23 police officers, and provide body cameras for all officers as part of a public safety budget increase of $15 million.
Citizens peppered Boyce with questions about their tax bills, county funding for the Braves stadium and more. While some wondered if what he was proposing was enough, especially about public safety, others didn’t like hearing Boyce adamantly defend raising taxes.
When Ellen Smith (pictured above), an attorney who occasionally argues zoning cases in front of the commissioners, suggested an increase of 3 mills, in part to fully fund the county’s animal services, some citizens loudly grumbled and yelled out, “ask a question!”
When another citizen asked Boyce if he would “be back here next year” should his budget and tax demands not be sufficient, he said that “I don’t know what the future brings.
“But I don’t want to be back here next year.”
Boyce’s final town hall is back in East Cobb on July 9, at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center at 7 p.m.
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This week’s top stories includes a revised Cobb budget proposal to keep parks and libraries open (and raise your property taxes), details about Georgia’s upcoming hands-free law and the 30th anniversary of the Good Mews cat shelter.
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Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce holds his first budget town hall meeting Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center. (East Cobb News file photo)
A revised Cobb budget for fiscal year 2019 would keep open libraries and parks that had been put on draft lifts as options for closures because of the county’s projected $30 million deficit.
The revised budget, which Boyce explained in his weekly video (see bottom of this post), comes to $453 million for the general fund. The current budget for the general fund is $405 million.
In addition, the proposed budget would would add police officer positions and purchase body cameras for law enforcement and have Sunday opening hours at regional libraries (including the Mountain View branch in East Cobb).
It also would keep open the UGA Cobb Extension Service and the county animal services department. Those agencies also have been mentioned for possible elimination.
The millage rate increase he is seeking is 1.7 mills, above the 1.1-mill hike he had initially sought. While the 1.1 mills could cover the $30 million gap, Boyce said additional funds are necessary to restore county services to what they were before the recession.
He said based on feedback from Cobb citizens, especially in regards to libraries and parks facilities, the message is clear.
“We’re not closing anything,” Boyce said. “From what I’ve heard and seen, people like these amenities and want us to keep them. But I have to find a way to pay for them.”
Boyce, who begins a series of budget town hall meetings on Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center, also laid out how much a 1.7-mill increase would cost property owners (see chart below), with annual jumps ranging from $170 to $1,700, based the the taxable value of their homes.
After a testy Cobb budget retreat this week, Boyce got no “clear direction” from other commissioners about what proposal to take to the public. East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott has maintained that he wants to see more spending cuts before he would support any kind of increase.
Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell has said “everything is on the table” but that she didn’t favor shutting down parks facilities.
East Cobb facilities that have appeared on draft lists prepared by department heads and made public include the East Cobb Library, Fullers Park and Fullers Recreation Center, the Mountain View Aquatic Center, Mountain View Community Center and The Art Place.
Other budget details include restoring eliminated Cobb DOT maintenance positions and increasing right-of-way mowing contracts. Proposed cuts include $2 million in local grant matches and information services contracts.
Boyce said he’s gotten many e-mails from citizens complaining about unmowed grass along county roads and potholes.
On Wednesday, Cobb government asked in a social media posting for the public’s patience in handling a long backlog of transportation maintenance calls. It said Cobb DOT received 300 requests for service in a seven-day period and that the backlog includes 1,800 work orders.
“At current staffing levels, DOT is completing about 20 work orders per day,” according to the message.
“Do we want to have a county with a high quality of life serviced by the best staff in Georgia?” Boyce said in his video. “Or do we want to live in a mediocre county staffed and funded by a sub-par budget?”
He also said that “these town halls make a difference.”
Monday’s town hall meeting at the East Cobb Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) starts at 7 p.m. The town halls continue through July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library, followed by three public budget hearings that are required by law.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce explained the budget situation to the East Cobb Business Association in January. (East Cobb News file photo)
A few hours before holding a budget retreat, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Tuesday morning that no decisions have been made about how to close a projected $30 million deficit.
During a public comment session at the Board of Commissioners meeting, several East Cobb Boy Scouts asked that the Mountain View Aquatic Center and The Art Place not be closed.
Those facilities were included on a draft list prepared by the Cobb Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department and made public last week. They outlined possible cost savings as options for balancing the budget and include several parks, pools and community centers around the county.
Also on the list are the Mountain View Community Center, Fullers Park and the Fullers Recreation Center in East Cobb.
“All that it is is a working document,” Boyce said, explaining that county department heads have been asked to be prepared to answer questions commissioners may have about the cost of individual facilities as they begin budget deliberations.
The retreat is taking place Tuesday afternoon at the Cobb Civic Center.
Thus far, however, such options have been publicized only for senior services, libraries and parks and recreation. Also listed for possible elimination are the UGA Cobb Extension Service and Keep Cobb Beautiful.
Boyce had a town hall at the East Cobb Senior Center in January to hear from the public about fee increases at senior centers.
In February, a draft list of nearly $3 million in possible service cuts to the library system included the full closure of the East Cobb Library.
A formal budget proposal by Boyce has not been released as he prepares for several budget town hall meetings, starting next Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center. Another town hall will take place July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
“If you think it’s hard for you, it’s hard for us,” Boyce told the scouts.
He said that during the budget town halls, “we are going to find out what we’re going to continue to fund” based on public feedback, with the goal of producing a budget that “reflects our conservative values.”
Boyce has suggested a 1.1-mills increase in the property tax rate that would cover the deficit. But East Cobb’s commissioners are cool to that. District 2’s Bob Ott said he wouldn’t support a hike without seeing considerable savings presented first. JoAnn Birrell of District 3, who is seeking re-election in November, said she isn’t in favor of a tax increase either.
The parks and recs draft list identified around $3.3 million in savings, and about a third of that, $1.1 million, is in Birrell’s Northeast Cobb district.
She also reminded the Boy Scouts that no decisions have been made and asked for their and other feedback at the town halls.
“We’d like to hear from you again,” she said.
An East Cobb resident whom commissioners have heard from often renewed her concerns about library cuts during the public comment period Tuesday.
Rachel Slomovitz, who organized the Save Cobb Libraries group, said she has more than 2,100 signatures on a petition, and pleaded with commissioners not to “take away the most elemental of services.”
She said Cobb could have “book deserts” if steep cuts are made, citizens will suffer from having few computers for job-hunting and students will lose additional learning resources outside school.
“When you take away a library, there are outcomes you cannot imagine,” said Slomovitz, who supports a tax increase to prevent library cuts.
“I am here also to ask why you don’t have the courage to do what’s right for Cobb. Why make Cobb citizens feel as though they are about to lose everything?”
The fiscal year 2019 budget is scheduled to be adopted on July 25, after the town halls and three public hearings.
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