Cobb Taxpayer Group Vows to Fight New SPLOST

A Cobb County group has come out in opposition to a continuation of the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) a day before the Cobb Board of Commissioners votes whether or not to include it on the November ballot.

The Cobb Taxpayers Association (CTA) is concerned that the tax has become a crutch for funding several government departments, and that SPLOST funds are earmarked for unnecessary "wants" instead of "needs," the group says in a statement.

The CTA is upset that one of these "wants," the Bus Rapid transit (BRT) line, has been placed on the SPLOST list after being soundly voted down as part of the controversial 2012 TSPLOST.

The roughly $500 million project would be jointly funded by the county and the federal government to connect Kennesaw State University with Midtown Atlanta via a bus lane along Cobb Parkway.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports that due to timing issues with the federal government, Chairman Tim Lee has dropped BRT from the SPLOST project list and moved BRT-related projects from Tier I to Tier II, which will prevent the projects from being completed only after all Tier I projects have been fully funded.

Should the Board of Commissioners vote to approve putting the six-year, one percent sales tax on the November ballot on Tuesday, the CTA has vowed to fight the measure and try to defeat it at the ballot box, which would give Cobb County the state's lowest sales tax.

“This significantly reduced tax rate would be a boon to Cobb County residents and businesses, saving consumers hundreds, if not thousands of dollars over the years that we would be free from the SPLOST tax burden,” Lance Lamberton, CTA chairman said in a statement.