It will be a presidential election year, which has higher turnout than midterm elections. Voters rejected all three cityhood questions on Tuesday.Ĭupid had initially pushed for a referendum this fall, but the delay could work in transportation advocates’ favor. “They don’t want that.”Ĭonservative opposition to transit became a campaign issue for cityhood supporters, even though cities have no control over whether the county holds a transit referendum. “In West Cobb they are OK with not having transit,” said Gambrill, the District 1 commissioner. They prefer to consider a 5-year transportation tax that could be used for roads and sidewalks. Many county residents have no desire to spend their tax dollars on transit, and Republicans Keli Gambrill and JoAnn Birrell, who represent less dense suburban and rural areas, oppose the 30-year tax. The Democratic majority will have to authorize the ballot measure along party lines.
“How will our decisions today benefit your grandchildren and their children?” “Our decisions on transportation and transit should be contemplated through the lens of a generational investment,” said Sheffield, a Democrat from District 4. By the time a 30-year tax would expire, demographers anticipate Cobb will have more than 1 million residents.
Since 1990, the county has grown from a population of 447,745 to 766,000 today. If the sales tax is approved, Cobb’s long-term transit plans also call for expanding local bus routes and improving connectivity between key county nodes such as the Cumberland area, South Cobb, and cities such as Marietta and Smyrna.Ĭommissioner Monique Sheffield, who represents South Cobb, said she struggled with the 30-year length of the tax, but ultimately decided long-term investments are needed. Late last year, commissioners agreed to spend $547,000 on its share of a $16 million study for the project, a first-of-its-kind collaboration with MARTA and three other metro Atlanta counties.
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The money could also help with Cobb’s portion of a regional project to install bus rapid transit routes along the top end of I-285. County transportation officials say the proposal would be a major step toward a true regional transit system, funding new services, such as bus rapid transit lines that could connect South Cobb and cities along the I-75 corridor to MARTA stations in Atlanta.
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