There will be one less item on the general election ballot for Cobb voters in November.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said last week that she is delaying a referendum on the Cobb Mobility SPLOST until at least 2024 after meetings in recent months with community stakeholders.
She had been proposing a one-percent special-purpose local-option sales tax to fund transit and surface transportation projects.
But she and the mayors of Cobb six cities could not come to an agreement on how much money to raise from the tax and how long to levy it. There also wasn’t enough support from the other four commissioners to put a referendum on the November ballot.
“I can’t put this on the ballot myself,” Cupid said in a statement issued by the county. “This is a team effort and these conversations convinced me we can get more support for a transit referendum after putting in more intentional effort and planning over the next few years.”
She said she wanted to put the matter on the ballot this year because federal matching funds were available, but noted in the county release that similar referendums in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties may be proposed in 2024.
The Mobility SPLOST is separate from the Cobb general government SPLOST that funds road projects, facility construction and maintenance and purchase of park land.
You can view a county presentation on the Mobility SPLOST by clicking here; more information can be found here.
Cobb voters in November voted to continue that tax for another six years.
Roughly half of that amount is to go to road projects. Under state law, local governments have the option to collect a special mobility sales tax.
Last fall, Cupid and Cobb commissioners held town halls around the county to gauge public interest in a Mobility SPLOST.
Cobb residents also pay a one-percent sales tax for school construction and maintenance projects in the Cobb and Marietta school districts, and last year also voted to extend that tax for another five years, starting in 2024.
Related:
Cobb approves projects for $31.8M with excess SPLOST funds
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
