Cobb tax increase

Ott on District 2 benefits of Cobb tax increase: ‘1 DOT work crew’

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Cobb property tax increase, Cobb DOT maintenance crews
Additional Cobb DOT crews will be hired to mow and maintain overgrown medians like this one at East Piedmont Road and Sewell Mill Road. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

Before and after a Cobb tax increase was approved by county commissioners last month, those in favor of the millage hike have touted expanded additional police officer positions and law enforcement body cameras, restored library hours and more funding to maintain county medians and rights of way.

Cobb commissioner Bob Ott, who voted against the budget in a 3-2 vote (along with JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb) hasn’t said much publicly about the 1.7-mills increase, other than extended remarks he gave right before the vote.

On Friday, he published those comments (excerpted below) “because many people have asked me why I voted no.”

In his weekly newsletter, he also said he’s been asked how his District 2, which includes East Cobb, will benefit from the increase. South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who supported the tax increase, talked about the police, library and DOT funding in her newsletter to constituents, and said the 1.7-mills increase was “indeed a compromise.”

Cobb property tax increase, commissioner Bob Ott
Commissioner Bob Ott has said the county’s FY 2018 budget reminds him of SPLOST 2016, “full of wants and not identifying the true needs.”

Ott, who maintained during months of grueling budget deliberations that he wanted to see more proposed spending cuts before he would support any increase, mentioned only one benefit for District 2:

“1 DOT work crew”

Included in the $454 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2019 is $1.4 million for Cobb DOT mowing crews, which had been reduced to one countywide during the recession. Each of the four commission districts will have a dedicated crew, and the operations will be moved in-house for year-round work.

The county has been outsourcing mowing crews for $1.1 million a year, but they worked only for six months, from spring to fall.

Commissioners have said that constituents have complained about overgrown medians and rights-of-way as much as almost anything.

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A few highlights from Ott’s budget adoption-night comments include his opposition to how the need tax hike was presented and his frustration that previous proposals to fund new police cars and find budget savings were ignored, as well as his concerns over looming pension obligations. Ott supports moving from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution plan:

I am disappointed in how the need for a tax increase has been presented. Putting forward to the residents the closure of the busiest parks, the busiest libraries, extension services, 4-H and Master Gardeners. This tugged on the heartstring of all residents, young and old, and the mission became ‘save us’ and the focus was off what the budget is actually made up of.

I too have had many emails and calls; not a day goes by where I get into work and there are another batch of emails. I am not here to tell you the ratio of those for and those against but here is my take away – when I write back to them or call them back I explain my position, I tell them that the services that are being threatened to be taken away were never proposals that came before the board. If they took the time to think about this – why would the board continue to buy more park space if the intent was to close parks, why are new libraries being built only to close them? 

 

I proposed in the 2016 SPLOST that 9 million additional dollars be added to buy the police even more new vehicles than originally proposed. This was removed to pay for other’s wants of things not the NEEDS of the county. I even agreed to less money for District 2 sidewalks to pay for these cars and I was turned down.

 

When we had the [budget] retreat in October Commissioner Weatherford and I came up, on our own, [with] a way to save 50 million out of the budget. Some of my proposals were to consolidate the libraries that are under-used, outsource some departments in the County and to work on transportation to run fewer buses, maximize their capacity and look at the utilization of UBER and LYFT vouchers to take people to the main lines of the fixed routes.

None of our proposals or plans are included in this budget.

 

To all county staff, I value you and I do think that you work hard at your jobs. I am not the bad person when I talk about your pension. I will never agree to take what you have earned and put into your pension, but this pension plan has to change, it is simply not sustainable in its current form.  I proposed a change 4 years ago. The pension is at its worst funding level it has ever been. Many companies have changed –  large multi-billion companies that were hit hard in the recession changed – but not Cobb.

I proposed in this budget discussion to stop funding this type of pension – this does not mean that the employees lose what they put into their plan. It will be there when you retire. But the county needs to move into a 401K plan where the county can put in a percentage and the employees can put in money that they feel is appropriate to reach their goal in retirement. The money will then be yours and in your name.

You can read his full statment at this link, which includes further thoughts on employee salary increases, county vehicle replacement costs, additional police positions, libraries, parks and recreation, animal services and more.

 

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

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Cobb tax increase
East Cobb citizens had their say at several budget town hall meetings this summer, including at the Sewell Mill Library on July 9, shortly before commissioners voted to raise property taxes. (East Cobb News file photo)

Whenever the subject of a Cobb tax increase comes up, those who say “no” the loudest and most often quite often have prevailed.

Especially after I returned to the county in 1990, the “nos” have frequently had the ear of elected officials.

They have done almost anything to heed those citizens who urge them to: Cut wasteful spending. Impose a hiring freeze. Take care of needs instead of wants. Live within your means, just like we do.

These have been the bedrock principles of low-tax conservatism for as long as I can remember growing up in Cobb County.

Cobb became a magnet for new residents and businesses in large part because of low taxes. That’s still a big attraction, but so are good government services and schools. As a result, Cobb’s explosive growth, especially in the last 30 years, has generated another constituency.

These citizens, coming from all across the county, and representing many demographic and socioeconomic classes and interest levels, effectively countered the “no” forces during the budget deliberations that concluded this week with a general fund property tax rate increase of 1.7 mills.

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Those citizens have been extremely vocal over the past few months about supporting the services they feared were being imperiled as a $30 million deficit loomed.

As draft lists were made public about potential “savings” in library and park services, the UGA Cobb Extension service and other small-bore line items, these citizens formed their own groups. Some started on Facebook, then fanned out to attend budget town hall meetings and public hearings and urged their members to tell commissioners what they valued.

They were every bit as active and organized as those who opposed a tax increase. At this point, the naysayers may wish to point out that citizens were whipped up into a frenzy by Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, who cited the need for a millage rate increase to keep Cobb “a five-star county.”

I wrote previously that there was some emotional blackmail involved as these lists were made public. I also wrote that a tax increase was likely. For far too long, Cobb elected officials have been fearful of getting an earful from those who always say “no.”

The problem with always saying no is that the provision of services wasn’t keeping up with the demand. Even as Cobb’s population grew from 450,000 in 1990 to more than 750,000 today, commissioners were gradually reducing the millage rate.

A post-recession situation emerged in which library hours hadn’t been restored, Cobb DOT maintenance crews hadn’t been replenished and the county had to hire dozens of new police officers.

Cobb tax increase
Members of the Cobb Master Gardeners spoke in favor of preserving the UGA Cobb Extension Service.

As I listened to those who were saying “yes,” I heard the voices of Cobb citizens adamantly insisting that the services they valued were worth a few extra dollars a month on their tax bill.

Among those standing up were members of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. I’ve been hearing from them all summer. They work with the UGA Cobb Extension Office, which runs the local 4-H program and gets equal funding from the county and the state.

Also saying “yes” were some citizens who identified themselves as fiscal conservatives. These weren’t garden variety Berkeley radicals but suburban gardeners. They were also library and arts patrons and everyday people not prone to political activism.

None of those saying “yes” that I heard this summer are wild about a tax increase. I’m certainly not, but Cobb leaders have been dodging this bullet for too many years. After playing ball with the Atlanta Braves, they cut the millage rate in 2016, right before SunTrust Park became operational.

To me, that was the height of fiscal irresponsibility. Yet many proud fiscal conservatives have ignored that this summer, or belatedly sprung to action. The local newspaper fulminated in a thunderclap editorial that Boyce went against his promises of no new taxes, and fretted that “conservatism has fallen out of fashion” yet again.

(I’d argue that real, principled conservatism went out of fashion when the four members of the commission who are Republicans voted to subsidize a baseball stadium, an action the daily printed edition uncritically approved. The lone Democrat, occasionally slammed by the same publication, cast the only vote against it.)

Earlier this month, citizens against a tax increase lobbied for a hiring freeze, even as DOT, public safety and other positions have been frozen for several years.

The day before the budget vote, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution against a tax increase with plenty of boilerplate language, but no tangible suggestions to balance the budget.

Commissioner Bob Ott

JoAnn Birrell and Bob Ott, East Cobb’s commissioners, were on the short end of the 3-2 vote. Birrell wanted a smaller increase, Ott wanted to see more proposed spending cuts.

The decisive vote was cast by Bob Weatherford, drubbed the day before in a runoff against a tax increase opponent, but who said it was time for the county to invest its future.

Though his support for a tax increase may have cost him his political future, Weatherford’s rationale was certainly different than what we’re accustomed to in Cobb. So is Boyce’s, whether he runs for re-election in two years or not. Both are Republicans.

What looms ahead remains uncertain. I wonder if 1.7 mills will be enough of an increase to avoid another rough budget process next year. There are efficiencies that have to be considered that Boyce ignored in this budget.

Ott offered some sound spending proposals that deserve attention. Foremost is reforming the county’s existing defined benefit pension plan, which is a ticking time bomb for many governments. SPLOST reform also must be addressed.

More than anything, I hope citizens who participated in the budget battle this summer, both in favor of a tax hike or against, continue to stay active. Their voices and diligence and willingness to question how their money is being spent are needed.

No matter your views on a tax increase, it was encouraging to see such vigorous civic involvement, especially from those who don’t normally speak out.

Before Wednesday’s vote, former Gov. Roy Barnes, who holds a 4-H gala at his Marietta home every fall, said to the commissioners that local government is “government in the raw.”

We may be about to find out what that truly means, even after this grueling summer.

 

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

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Mike Boyce, Cobb tax increase
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce took his call for a property increase to citizens for several months, including town hall meetings this summer. (East Cobb News file photo)

After more than three hours of public speakers and comments from commissioners, a Cobb tax increase was approved Wednesday night.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a property tax hike of 1.7 mills and a fiscal year budget of $454 million for the general fund.

Chairman Mike Boyce, who said he was staking his political future on the outcome, got everything he wanted.

In addition to getting the vote of South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat on the five-member board, he also got the vote of Republican Bob Weatherford, who as it turned out may have sacrificed his political future in the process.

Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell, who represent East Cobb in Districts 2 and 3, respectively, voted against the budget and the millage rate increase.

While Ott said he wouldn’t support an increase without spending cuts that weren’t presented, Birrell said she would have been in favor of a hike of 1.2 or 1.3 mills but nothing more.

Weatherford, defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday night in a Republican runoff in North Cobb’s District 1 by an anti-tax increase opponent, proved to be the swing vote.

He said after reflecting on his big loss (59-41 percent to Keli Gambrill) that he naturally wondered what had gone wrong.

“It’s what I did right that people didn’t like,” said Weatherford, who will have served only one term. “I made the hard choices and did what I said I would do.”

He said that he’s been threatened and even challenged to a fistfight for his calls for a lesser tax increase than what passed.

“The only thing I’m running for now is the hills, but I do not want to leave the county worse than than when I got here,” he said.

“So I completely support this.”

With that, loud applause broke out in the commissioners’ meeting chambers.

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But plenty of citizens spoke against a tax increase, saying the county had a spending problem and wasn’t looking for efficiencies.

The 1.7 mills would push the general fund rate to 8.46 mills, generate around $47 million in additional revenue, and go beyond solving what Boyce has said is a projected $30 million deficit for FY 2019. The extra funds include $15 million more for public safety and the restoration of some Sunday library hours.

East Cobb residents Debbie Fisher and Jan Barton, vigorously opposed to a tax hike, continued to dispute the severity of the deficit.

Pamela Reardon, an East Cobb realtor and 1st vice chair of the Cobb Republican Party, which passed a resolution Tuesday against a tax increase, said the county must “learn to live within its means,” especially with a record county tax digest in 2018.

Another East Cobb resident, retiree Frank Maleski, recited a long list of taxes he pays and said “I can’t afford to pay for any more government.”

Other East Cobb residents were adamant in support of a tax hike.

One of them is attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents Cobb public safety personnel. The budget will fund 23 more police officer positions as well as vehicles and body cameras.

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb and District 2.

He worried that failing to provide resources to police officers and sheriff’s deputies would prompt existing personnel to look elsewhere for better opportunities.

Another is JoEllen Smith, who ran as Republican for a legislative seat in East Cobb in 2013. She said she estimated her tax bill would go up by around $200 a year, or $16 a month. The weekly boost of around $4, she told commissioners, amounted to a cup of coffee.

“I’d give up a Starbucks so police can have whatever the hell they want,” said Smith, who apologized for her language.

In lengthy prepared remarks, Ott outlined many reasons for voting for any tax increase at all, including the fact that many of the services that were listed as possible cost savings—including parks, libraries and the Cobb animal services program—were not included in Boyce’s budget.

He likened this budget to the 2016 Cobb government SPLOST, which he said had a lot of “wants” but not much in the way of “needs.”

He also advocated that the county consider a regional library concept to consolidate branches that are little-used.

While “nothing on my list is absolute,” Ott said the county has to grapple with growing concerns like employee pensions and pay increases, especially when “the tax digest is the highest it’s ever been.”

Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb who’s been vilified in the Marietta paper in the days leading up to the vote, said “I didn’t have to do the town halls. But I believe in the people in this county. This is how I govern. I talk to you. I want you to tell us what’s on your mind.”

 

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Cobb Republican Party passes resolution opposing tax increase

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Cobb budget, Cobb Republican Party
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb, says a tax hike is necessary to move the county forward. (East Cobb News file photo)

While runoff election results were coming in on Tuesday, word was getting out that the Cobb Republican Party urged commissioners not to raise property taxes when they vote on the fiscal year 2019 county budget tonight.

Earlier Tuesday, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution encouraging the commissioners and all elected officials to “exercise fiscal restraint” and called a proposed tax hike “an undue burden on the community.”

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

The resolution will be presented by Cobb GOP chairman Jason Shepherd tonight as the Cobb Board of Commissioners is holding its final public hearings on the budget and millage rate at 7 p.m., before adopting both.

The resolution states, in part that:

“Cobb County Government should only provide services not readily available in the private sector and which are not core services of local civil government, especially when facing a budget shortfall;”

Also:

” . . . there have been several examples identified of waste in Cobb County Government spending, and no operational audit of the county government has been performed, nor have any reductions in spending been proposed at the townhall meetings hosted by the Chairman, but many increases in spending have been proposed . . . and a tax increase would be an undue burden on the community.”

The resolution comes at the end of a final push for and against Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills tax increase.

He’s taken his proposed $453 million general fund budget around the county at town hall meetings, and citizens on both sides of a tax hike have been vocal.

The Cobb GOP is making a strong statement on a five-member board with four Republican members, including Boyce, who’s from East Cobb. He’s said the tax hike would help move the county forward beyond solving a projected fiscal year 2019 deficit of $30 million.

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

“It’s $30 million in an economy of billions. You would think we’re living in Albania! I just don’t understand.”

The Cobb GOP’s resolution echoes the calls of tax hike opponents who said the county needs to do more to find efficiencies, but is aimed at Republican votes on the commission.

District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb has said the vote “is very close right now” and said she is considering all comments from constituents.

Another Republican commissioner, who has been targeted by tax increase opponents, lost his bid for re-election last night. Bob Weatherford of District 1 in North Cobb was easily defeated in a runoff by Keli Gambrill, a first-time political candidate, who campaigned against a tax increase. She will join the commission in January since she has no Democratic opponent in the general election.

Weatherford still has a vote tonight, and he and Birrell said at a public hearing last week that a compromise figure on a millage rate increase could be likely.

Commissioner Bob Ott, a Republican who represents East Cobb in District 2, has said he opposes the budget proposal without any significant spending cuts.

Boyce has the support of South Cobb Commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat, who thinks an additional 1.7 mills is not enough.

The public hearings and commissioners meeting takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

 

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

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East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott (L) and JoAnn Birrell at a budget retreat in June. (East Cobb News file photo)

While voters are going to the polls in today’s election runoffs, county elected officials are preparing to vote on a Cobb budget proposal on Wednesday that’s been months in the making, and hashing out.

Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, citizens will have their final say in required public hearings for the fiscal year 2019 budget and 2018 property tax millage rate held by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The commissioners will vote on both at the same meeting. It takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.

Commissioners heard plenty from citizens on both sides of a proposed tax increase of 1.7 mills last week, and the vote will probably be a very close one.

The budget and millage rate votes are being delayed a day due to the Tuesday runoffs.

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Commission chairman Mike Boyce is proposing a $453 million general fund budget that includes the hiring of police officers and partial restoration of Sunday library hours cut during the recession.

While supporters of the tax increase include library and UGA Cobb Extension advocates, critics said Boyce didn’t look hard enough for cuts to reduce a projected $30 million deficit.

Citizen groups were urging their supporters early this week to make final contact with commissioners about the vote.

Rachel Slomovitz of East Cobb, who created the Save Cobb Libraries group and who supports a tax increase, posted on Facebook Sunday that “starting tomorrow until Wednesday night we need your voice. We need you to email or call your Commissioner, and tell them you want the libraries to remain open, in business and don’t want to see them on the chopping block.”

Members of the Cobb chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which opposes a tax hike, were knocking on doors Monday in District 3 in Northeast Cobb. That’s represented by commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who said the vote is “very close right now” and that she is considering every letter and call from constituents.

AFP also canvassed over the weekend in District 1 in North Cobb. That’s where commissioner Bob Weatherford is in a Republican runoff today against Keli Gambrill, who’s against a tax increase.

“We will have green shirts and signs [at Wednesday’s meeting] to let our commissioners know that we adamantly oppose the property tax hike and that our citizens are calling for fiscal viability as the baseline for our county’s governance,” AFP said in an e-mail communication to supporters.

Birrell is leery of a 1.7 millage rate increase, although she said the budget can’t be balanced on cuts alone. She said a compromise might be the best solution, and Weatherford said a likely figure the commission might settle on is a hike between 1.1 and 1.7 mills.

Boyce, of East Cobb, and Lisa Cupid of South Cobb’s District 4 support the increase, although Cupid thinks it should be higher.

Commissioner Bob Ott, of District 2 in East Cobb, has said he would not vote for the proposed budget without seeing more spending cuts.

 

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Boyce continues Cobb tax increase push as commissioners begin public hearings

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Cobb tax increase
Mike Boyce he wants Cobb to return to a more stabilized millage rate that existed before the recession: “Let’s just get to one number and leave it alone.” East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker

In his final town hall meeting, Mike Boyce told East Cobb citizens Monday night that his proposed Cobb tax increase of 1.7 mills is necessary because it “keeps everything open that’s open now” and would restore some popular and necessary services to their pre-recession levels.

In a packed black box studio at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, the Cobb commission chairman received a mixed response for his call to return Cobb to “the golden days” of a stable millage rate before the recession and provide the level of services worthy of what he has called a “five-star county.”

He wants to use the 1.7 mills not only to cover a projected $30 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2019, but to add another $20 million for resumption of services that have been affected by budget cuts for several years.

“What is it that you want pay for, what you used to have and that you want again?” he asked the crowd, drawing some applause.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold the first of three required public hearings on the tax increase proposal Tuesday at 9 a.m. It’s on the second floor of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

Cobb tax increase

 

Monday’s meeting was the seventh budget town hall Boyce has held around the county over the last month, and like the others he asked citizens to let their commissioners know their budget priorities.

His proposed $454 million FY 2019 budget is a 12 percent increase over the current $405 million budget, and would raise the general fund millage rate from 6.76 to 8.46 mills.

Boyce wants to spend an additional $15 million for public safety, including the hiring of 23 police officers and providing officers with body cameras.

He would expand library hours to Sunday at select locations and restore hours to what they were before the recession.

He also wants to restore maintenance positions in Cobb DOT, including the hiring of mowers for rights-of-way on county roads. Currently those are positions that are contracted out for six months, but bringing them under county auspices would allow for year-round work.

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In the run-up to the town halls, staff department head lists of potential cuts for commissioners to consider were made public, and quickly galvanized supporters of the county library and parks systems.

Those items included Fullers Park, the home of East Side Baseball, and the Fullers Recreation Center, where East Marietta Basketball is based.

Cobb tax increase
Members of the Cobb Master Gardeners have been vocal in asking to preserve the UGA Cobb Extension Service.

Richard Benson, a coach, volunteer and board member of East Side Baseball, brought several members of the East Side Chargers team with him, and wearing their same jersey, told Boyce that “I can’t fathom the thought that they might not have a place to play baseball.”

Boyce said the list was only a “working product,” and that “I know of no commissioner who wanted to close a park at anytime.”

Not only are current parks facilities all preserved in Boyce’s budget, he told the audience, to applause, that “we don’t have enough parks.”

Also in attendance, wearing light green shirts, were members of the Cobb Master Gardeners, who work closely with the UGA Cobb Extension Service, which had been initially targeted for possible closure but is funded in Boyce’s budget proposal.

Tax increase opponents also were out in force, and some demanded that Boyce point to spending cuts to help alleviate the deficit. Only one slide presented savings thus far, a combined $1.7 million.

Boyce said his budget staff is continuing to do that. “We’re not done finding efficiencies,” he said.

Cobb tax increase
East Cobb citizen Debbie Fisher, a strong opponent of a tax increase.

Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb, who was not at Monday’s town hall in his District 2, has said he wants to see significant budget cuts before he would agree to any kind of tax increase.

He did attend a public meeting held Friday by opponents, including Debbie Fisher and Jan Barton of East Cobb. They handed out flyers on Monday from the Georgia Taxpayers Association, a petition to “cut wasteful spending and property taxes.”

Fisher inquired about what she claimed was $106 million in excess funding from the 2005 and 2011 Cobb SPLOSTs, but Boyce told her “there’s nothing left.” It got a little heated when she asked why she couldn’t find any related documents online. Boyce said she was welcome to come to county offices anytime.

In a post-town hall letter, Barton, who previously tried to raise the same point with Boyce but was passed over, wrote the following:

“We felt that citizens with dissenting questions/opinions against the tax hike were not allowed to ask questions in Town Halls and wanted to give everyone a forum where the other side of the story could be explained. A Town Hall is supposed to be for all citizens/taxpayers.”

After the town hall, Benson said he felt better about what he heard from Boyce about the parks, and that he’s been communicating with commissioners about keeping them open.

East Cobb resident Rachel Slomovitz, who created the Save Cobb Libraries group and started a petition to raise taxes that she said has received more than 2,100 signatures, said after the town hall that “there’s still so much uncertainty in the air.”

While she supports Boyce’s budget and commissioner Lisa Cupid’s call for restoring services, she’s still “strongly encouraging” the three other commissioners as well.

“We’re asking for books and baseball,” she said, pointing toward the East Side Chargers players. “The basics.”

Commissioners will hold public hearings on July 17 and 25, with budget adoption also scheduled for July 25.

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

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A group of Cobb citizens opposed to a proposed property tax increase is holding a town hall meeting Friday night in Marietta that’s called “Cobb Budget 101.”Cobb Budget 101

The group includes East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher, and the town hall takes place from 6:30-8:30 Friday at the offices of the Cobb County Republican Party (799 Roswell St.).

It’s not an official Cobb GOP event. Here’s what Jan Barton, another East Cobber involved in efforts to thwart a tax increase, is sending out about the event:

A group of concerned Cobb citizens will present Cobb Budget 101, a different road map from the one presented by the Cobb County Chairman. We will make a case on what caused the purported $30M deficit, how we can remedy the shortfall without a tax increase and present the real history on the Millage Vs. the Tax Digest! There will be a Q&A with budget and finance experts on a panel to answer your questions.

They’ve been vocally opposed to Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills increase in the general fund to solve a projected $30 million budget. Boyce and county budget staff have produced a Cobb Budget Journey interactive that has been featured at a series of town hall meetings and posted on county government web pages.

The final town hall Boyce is having is in East Cobb on Monday, starting at 7 p.m. at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road.)

The first of three formal Cobb Board of Commissioners public hearings on the budget proposal required by law takes place on Tuesday.

Budget adoption is scheduled for July 25.

Here’s Boyce’s latest budget video, posted on Tuesday.

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Boyce takes case for Cobb tax increase to the public

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Mike Boyce, Cobb tax increase

An overflow crowd at the East Cobb Senior Center heard Mike Boyce defend his proposed fiscal year 2019 budget of $453 million that would result in a Cobb tax increase.

The Cobb commission chairman’s goal, as he asserted several times during a nearly 90-minute town hall meeting Monday night, is to return to a “level, sustainable millage rate” the county enjoyed before the recession.

He said his proposed increase of 1.7 mills as part of revised budget from an original proposed hike of 1.1 mills, would generate $50 million in additional revenue per year.

Not only would that solve the projected $30 million budget deficit for FY 2019, but it would also replenish reserve funding commissioners have used in recent years to avoid a tax hike.

Revised Cobb budget, millage chart
Cobb government included this tax chart in its revised budget proposal last week.

Several weeks after possible closures of libraries, parks and other “desired” services were made public, Boyce denied threatening to close any of those facilities.

But he said if his fellow commissioners couldn’t agree at least to an extra 1.1 mills, “we will close things. But that’s up to the commissioners.”

After urging citizens to communicate with their commissioners about ensuring those services with a tax increase, there was vigorous applause in the room.

Many citizens were wearing stickers in support of Cobb libraries. Others came on behalf of parks, recreation centers and The Art Place, located next door to the senior center and included on a draft list of options for closure.

Others were opposed to any tax increase, including Lance Lamberton of the Cobb Taxpayers Association, who brought a sign saying “Cut Waste.”

Monday’s meeting was the first of several Boyce is holding through early July, before commissioners are to adopt the budget by the end of next month.

He prefaced his remarks with charts predicting Cobb’s budget shortfall in 2014, with significant rising costs anticipated for the county pension fund, a pay increase for roughly half of county employees and public safety needs.

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In public statements, Boyce has noted for several weeks how Cobb’s millage rate has decreased steadily since 1990, even though the county population has risen dramatically, from 450,000 then to more than 750,000 today.

After a 1.51 mills increase in 2011 during the recession, the general fund millage rate went down, again, including a decrease in 2016, right before Boyce defeated then-chairman Tim Lee in a runoff.

Currently, it’s 6.76 mills.

Last year, commissioners spent nearly $20 million in reserves to balance a $405 million general fund budget, leaving only $2.6 million on hand now.

“We simply need to buy things we haven’t bought,” Boyce said.

His revised budget would fund an additional 23 police officers, and provide body cameras for all officers as part of a public safety budget increase of $15 million.

Citizens peppered Boyce with questions about their tax bills, county funding for the Braves stadium and more. While some wondered if what he was proposing was enough, especially about public safety, others didn’t like hearing Boyce adamantly defend raising taxes.

When Ellen Smith (pictured above), an attorney who occasionally argues zoning cases in front of the commissioners, suggested an increase of 3 mills, in part to fully fund the county’s animal services, some citizens loudly grumbled and yelled out, “ask a question!”

When another citizen asked Boyce if he would “be back here next year” should his budget and tax demands not be sufficient, he said that “I don’t know what the future brings.

“But I don’t want to be back here next year.”

Boyce’s final town hall is back in East Cobb on July 9, at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center at 7 p.m.

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