VOTE! Nov. 3
General Election
Apply for an
Absentee Mail Ballot
• Return voted ballot by U.S. Mail
or one of 16 drop boxes
• Request an absentee ballot
at BallotRequest.sos.ga.gov
• See locations at
www.CobbElections.org
Vote Early In-Person
• 12 advance voting locations
• Voting Oct. 12 - 30
• See times and locations at
www.CobbElections.org
Last Day
to
Register
is Oct. 5
770-528-2581
info@CobbElections.org
Cobb County Board of
Elections & Registration
Back to basics:
Roads top county, city
priorities if voters approve
new penny sales tax
By Aleks Gilbert
agilbert@mdjonline.com
Surveillance cameras at county libraries. New synthetic fields
at county parks. A new firing range for the police. And smooth
roads. Miles upon miles of smooth roads.
In May, Cobb County’s governing board unanimously approved
the list of projects to be funded by a new special purpose
local option sales tax, or SPLOST, which is projected to collect
about $750 million over six years.
County residents will be asked to approve the tax in a referendum
in November. If it succeeds, the tax will go into effect
Jan. 1, 2022 — the day after the current SPLOST expires — and
collect one penny on every dollar spent in the county until 2028.
County Chairman Mike Boyce has repeatedly said a new
SPLOST would focus heavily on improving Cobb roads. At one
point, he summed up the tax by saying, “we need to get back to
the basics.”
All of that will help the county manage its growth in the coming
years, the chairman has argued. According to the Atlanta
Regional Commission, Cobb will have more than 1 million people
by 2050. In February, Boyce told the Cumberland Community
Improvement District’s board there is nothing he or anyone
else can do about it.
“If I never did another rezoning, we would still have a million
people in this county (by 2050) because the land use map supports
it,” Boyce told members of the Cumberland board.
An earlier county estimate had the tax collecting $810 million over
six years. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, however,
that figure has since been revised downward to $750 million.
That money will be split between the county and its six cities,
with the county expected to receive more than $550 million
before the tax expires.
COBB COUNTY
Almost half of the haul from the 2022 SPLOST would be dedicated
to transportation projects. Two-thirds of that — or some
$213 million — would go toward road repaving.
More than 10%, or $82 million, is earmarked for public safety
projects, such as a new, $17 million firing range and $16 million
in radio system upgrades.
Parks and libraries would get about $28 million, as would
facilities and technology upgrades.
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