(Railfanning.org) — In addition to voting on the next leader of the free world this presidential election, voters in the Atlanta suburb of Cobb County will also decide whether to implement a 30-year 1-cent Mobility Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.
The M-SPOLST would fund a transit expansion throughout the county, including new routes, bus rapid transit and micro transit. Proponents say the tax could generate $14 billion in tax revenue over 30 years.
Georgia Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, spoke with Railfanning.org News Wire about funding road improvements.
Thinking broader about mobility, our roads are deteriorating, particularly in and around Atlanta. How do the state and local jurisdictions improve the roads and make them so they’re improving?
Well, I think we need to maintain our county SPLOST. As much as I don’t like taxes, that is absolutely crucial for infrastructure. We need to widen several roads … and that takes a long time to do so. But our population growth demands it. It doesn’t just ask for it; it absolutely demands it. And if we’re not going to do mobility SPLOST, we still have to find a way to move people around — and move them around efficiently, as well as cost-effectively for the taxpayer. I think further investments in our road infrastructure, our bridges, expanding lanes — all that is a major part of the solution.
Would commuter rail, or a MARTA extension, ever play into that?
The problem with transit and commuter rail is that it’s very difficult to find a rail system anywhere in the world that is self-sufficient. So, in other words, once we build this infrastructure, we’re also going to have to pay an operation subsidy as taxpayers. That is bad for Cobb, and it’s bad for taxpayers.
Has the state thought about using the state-owned Western & Atlantic Railroad for commuter rail runs through Marietta, Kennesaw and other cities?
They probably have. I’ve not seen those studies, but repurposing it, I would imagine would be very, very costly. Just because it’s available doesn’t mean it’s convenient to where the commuters want to start and where they want to end their trip.
I think you see a lot with MARTA. If you’re trying to go any way other than north-south or east-west, it’s hard to do so.
It’s very difficult. And again, it goes back to our population density as well as our culture. We don’t like taxes, we like freedom, and we definitely don’t want to be tied down to a particular route.
You talked about taxes for certain infrastructure and roads. How do you determine a good tax versus a tax we shouldn’t have?
It’s a case-by-case basis. I hate to say it like that, but it really is, and it’s up to the taxpayers eventually.
So, if taxpayers were to approve the M-SPLOST, what do you say? What do you do after that?
We’ll see what they say the morning of Nov. 6 and figure it out from there, I would say. I think this is going to fail. My important point, and I think the point that was shared [during an Oct. 3 event] is that it doesn’t just need to fail; it needs to fail in a landslide way.
