Cobb Tax Trap

If you have been following the local news lately, you are no doubt aware the Chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, (BoC) Mike Boyce, is proposing a 1.9 increase in the millage rate, which combined with a historically high tax digest, will raise your property taxes by over $66 million over last year. In proposing this tax increase, Boyce has offered next to nothing in proposed cuts to the budget, and is threatening to cut popular services such as parks, libraries and recreation programs if he doesn’t get his way.

This is an untenable position and is tantamount to what I would call “women and children first” when it comes to establishing budget priorities. And if you are willing to buy into Boyce’s contention that there is no room to cut $30 million out of a proposed budget of $459 million then there is a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you. Moreover, his budget not only seeks to close the $30 million budget shortfall but add about $25 million to expand existing services! Now if money grew on trees, maybe that would be a viable course of action, but that is hard earned taxpayer dollars coming out of your pocket; money that you should be able to use to establish your own budget priorities.

You probably know of areas where cuts in spending could be realized without compromising quality of life or the provision of essential government services, i.e. those services which cannot feasibly or reasonably be provided by the private or non-profit sectors of the economy. Off the top of my head, a few items jump out:* About a Million dollars a year going to charitable non-profit organizations;
* Providing for security and traffic control during Braves games;* The Flex bus service; a ridiculously wasteful and underutilized transportation boondoggle offered in South Cobb costing us approximately $600,000 a year;* Free movie nights provided at the Barnes Mablehouse Amphitheater. Why is the county offering free “bread and circuses” in the face of a huge budget shortfall? In fact, why is the County in the Amphitheater entertainment business in the first place? Sell it off.
* Keeping underutilized small branch libraries open when the County is moving towards a regional library system. The Threadmill branch in Austell comes immediately to mind.* Tax abatements for entrenched business interests such as a celebrity owned corporate jet at McCollum Field.

The list could go on and on, but the reason we are in this pickle in the first place is because the BoC, for the past several years, has immersed itself in a tax and spend culture, where its biggest champion and advocate is our very own Chairman.

So is there anything that can be done about it, or are we forced to accept the old adage that you can’t fight City Hall? Well based upon the success we had last year in preventing a millage rate increase, I believe it is possible that we can make a difference by harnessing the power of the grassroots. For that reason I am encouraging you to attend a series of upcoming Town Hall meetings hosted by the aforementioned Chairman; make your concerns known, and offer concrete suggestions for taking a different course of action. 

The 7 pm events are as follows:* Monday, June 18: East Cobb Senior Center, 3332 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta.* Tuesday, June 19: North Cobb Senior Center, 4100 Old Highway 41, Acworth.* Wednesday, June 20: Cobb Senior Wellness Center, 1150 Powder Springs St., Suite 100, Marietta.* Monday, June 25: Freeman Poole Senior Center, 4025 South Hurt Road, Smyrna* Wednesday, June 27: West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs* Thursday, June 28: South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive, Mableton* Monday, July 9: Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, 2051 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta.

In addition to attending these meetings, I’m happy to report that the Georgia Chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is hosting a series of phone banks from their local office at 3850 Canton Road, Suite 1114, Marietta, where you can call out to local residents encouraging them to take action against the pending tax increase. The dates and times are as follows:* Thursday, June 21 from 5 – 8pm.* Saturday, June 23 from 10 – 4 pm.* Sunday, June 24 from 2 – 6 pm.

And last but not least, you need to call and e-mail the following Commissioners and ask them to vote NO on the tax increase:

Bob.ott@cobbcounty.org (mailto:Bob.ott@cobbcounty.org)   770-523-3313, Bob.weatherford@cobbcounty.org (mailto:Bob.weatherford@cobbcounty.org)   770-523-3313Joanne.birrell@cobbcounty.org (mailto:Joanne.birrell@cobbcounty.org)    770-528-3317

In liberty, Lance Lamberton, Chairman Cobb Taxpayers Association

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader