MARIETTA, Georgia — A group of elected officials and community leaders gathered to oppose a proposed Mobility SPLOST that Cobb County, Georgia, voters will decide when they head to the polls in November.
Cobb County leaders want residents to approve the M-SPLOST to fund a 30-year transit plan. The 1% M-SPLOST could generate $14 billion in tax revenue for the county over 30 years, Greg Teague, CEO of Croy Engineering, told Railfanning.org News Wire, and county officials previously indicated they could seek to leverage additional federal dollars to extend the $14 billion.
To jump start the process, if approved, county officials said they would issue $950 million in general obligation bonds. According to the county, projects to be funded by the tax include 73 miles of bus rapid transit, 34 miles of arterial rapid transit and countywide microtransit.
On Thursday, opponents convened in an empty lot across the street from CobbLinc’s Marietta Transit Center.
“Over the last few years, we have suffered through the highest inflation in 45 years,” state Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, said. “Everybody here is feeling that pinch. You’re feeling that when you pay rent or mortgage rates, you’re feeling that every time you fuel up your car, you’re doing it the same time you go to the grocery store, you’re paying your insurance costs have skyrocketed, and now we want to add the largest tax increase in Cobb’s history.
“Nothing makes sense about that, especially for something that we know will not impact any measurable amount of people and it will put harm to the rest of us,” Albers added. “We can do better; This is bad for Cobb County.”
The ask comes as ridership on CobbLinc, the transit system serving one of metro Atlanta’s largest counties, declines. According to the Marietta Daily Journal, CobbLinc’s annual ridership declined by 73% from 2013 to 2022, while annual passenger miles were down 82%.
Two of the sticking points critics articulated during Thursday’s gathering were the sales tax’s 30-year length and a vague project list to be funded by the tax. However, Teague said Cobb officials have published a list of projects and that two governmental bodies would have to approve the changes.
“The Board of Commissioners would have to vote to change the list, but then they would also have to seek approval from the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority to change the list as well,” Teague said in an interview. “So you would have two governmental bodies that would have to vote to allow any kind of changes to that list.
“When you look at what is being proposed, this is going to build over 100 miles of brand new lanes of traffic for these transit vehicles to be in,” Teague added. “That takes a lot of investment over time. We’re buying the actual transit vehicles. We’re doing a lot of intersection improvements and signalization optimization improvements. Every traffic signal is going to be improved in the county to accommodate what we’re doing. All of that is laid out in those project lists that have been approved with the cost on them. And then you’re looking at all, how much does a penny generate? And that’s where the 30 years factors into that to pay for these improvements that will be delivered if it’s approved.”
