The three Democrats on the Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday voted to spend more than $500,000 to hire three separate consulting firms to help the Cobb Department of Transportation prepare for a transportation sales tax referendum in 2024.
The contracts will be for developing project lists and providing planning and engineering services, as well as conducting community outreach.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid has proposed a one-percent, 30-year sales tax for transit, but the board’s two Republican members are opposed to anything longer than five years.
What’s been called the Cobb Mobility SPLOST, or M-SPLOST, would fund mass transit services as well as traditional transportation options, including resurfacing.
The county set aside $400,000 for consulting services for the M-SLPOST referendum, but on Tuesday spending that was approved totaled $529,839:
- WSP USA, Inc., $207,205
- Kimley-Horn & Assciates, $192,795
- CDM-Smith, Inc., $129,839
Republican commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill voted against the contracts, objecting to the long-term nature of the proposed 30-year sales tax.
State law gives local governments that option, and they also could levy a five-year, one-percent tax for surface projects, which Birrell has supported.
While commending Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler and his department for their efforts, Birrell said that “all along I have said I cannot support a 30-year tax. . . . Getting anybody to get on the same page up here is a difficult task.”
The county held town halls and other public events in 2021 for a sales tax referendum targeted for 2022, but put that on hold when mayors of Cobb’s cities objected to a 30-year tax.
Gambrill asked Raessler why more outreach was necessary, and he said that it would be more targeted, especially to those in cities and community improvement districts to hear “what type of projects they would like to see.”
Cupid said that “I think we have a significant opportunity to invest in our future, at least just to ask the citizens the questions, to flesh out with the mayors what the options are.
“This isn’t a done deal yet. But hopefully we’ll get the data to support where we could potentially go, with additional help fleshing out what the [project] lists are.”
Related:
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- East Cobb resident files ethics complaint against Richardson
- Cobb Republican commissioners vote, contest meeting minutes
- Ga. Attorney General: Cobb electoral maps are ‘not legally binding’
- Cobb Republican commissioners leave meeting over abstentions
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