As part of the recent Cobb County budget, Sunday hours for selected library branches are expanding. Those hours begin this Sunday, including at the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road).
The hours are from 1-5 each Sunday. Since the recession, only the main Switzer branch in downtown Marietta has been open on Sunday, and only during the school year.
The expanded Sunday hours also are at the South Cobb Regional Library and at the Kemp branch in West Cobb until Nov. 11. That’s when the West Cobb Regional Library is slated to open after being closed earlier this week for renovations.
The other library branches in East Cobb—East Cobb, Sewell Mill and Gritters—are still closed on Sundays.
Before the budget process began, county library officials listed proposed cuts that would have reduced the system’s operating budget by nearly $3 million, or a quarter of its fiscal year 2018 $12 million allocation.
That group, led by East Cobb resident Rachel Slomovitz, was vocal at budget hearings throughout the summer.
In July, commissioners voted to raise the property tax millage rate by 1.7 mills for a $454 million fiscal year budget, with East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell in opposition to the size of the hike.
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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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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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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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The East Cobb Library opened at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center in 2010.
What started out as a Facebook page has expanded its presence online. The citizens group Save Cobb Libraries launched a website Monday as part of its continued efforts to stave off proposed Cobb library cuts.
Rachel Slomovitz, an East Cobb resident who started the Facebook page, said Monday in introducing the site that “here we are, gathering our supplies, getting prepared for battle in these next 3 months really.”
The East Cobb Library is one of eight slated for closure or consolidation as part of proposed library cuts amounting to nearly $3 million, or roughly one-third of the Cobb library system budget.
Cobb commissioners will approve a fiscal year 2019 budget in July, with projections of a deficit of at least $30 million. Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce announced last week several budget town hall meetings in June, including one at the East Cobb Senior Center.
At a recent town hall meeting Slomotitz and other library advocates attended, Cobb commissioner Bob Ott pledged that the East Cobb Library “isn’t going to close,” but urged citizens to lobby his fellow commissioners.
The Save Cobb Libraries website has details about the proposed cuts, suggests talking points, urges citizens to contact their commissioners and sign a petition and has testimonials from patrons about the value of libraries.
In her message Monday, Slomovitz also said she’s sending out an e-mail update every Monday for those who aren’t on Facebook (contact info@savecobblibraries.com) and encouraged fellow library advocates to stay active:
“The Commissioners are convinced by those that come up and represent their views. So if no one comes out in favor of the libraries, they say it’s clearly not a priority, it will be an easy one to cut. If people come out with force, then it’s less likely going to end up on the chopping block.”
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