Cobb County’s Nov. 3 ballot asks voters to re-impose the county’s 1% special sales tax for up to six years, with an estimated $1.15 billion for county and city projects. Mableton voters get a second question on whether their city can use state redevelopment powers. Early voting runs through Oct. 30, and the county’s sample ballot tells voters to check online for their personal ballot [1].
The sales tax. The question is titled “Cobb County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.” It asks: “Shall a special 1 percent sales and use tax be re-imposed in the special district of Cobb County for a period of time not to exceed six years and for the raising of an estimated amount of $1,150,000,000.00 for the purpose of funding the following for the County and the seven Municipalities in Cobb County from their respective shares, including the Cities of Acworth, Austell, Kennesaw, Mableton, Marietta, Powder Springs and Smyrna?” The ballot then lists five kinds of projects: transportation, infrastructure, parks and recreation, facilities and technology. The text is from the sample ballot the county has posted, whose file name says it is a draft. It is the only sample ballot the county’s advance voting page links. The ballot says all of the projects are to take place in the special district, which it defines as unincorporated Cobb and the seven cities.
The county’s SPLOST page says commissioners approved the project list at their April 28 meeting. The county’s project booklet says collection would run from Jan. 1, 2028, through Dec. 31, 2033 if voters approve [2]. The booklet’s county project categories add up to about $794.5 million, led by $309,197,563 for transportation and $174,000,000 for a new State Court building, and it lists $355,498,437 in allocations to the seven cities, divided by each city’s share of the county’s population. Mableton’s share is about $97 million.
The county’s page quotes Austell Mayor Ollie Clemons: “We’re a small city with the smallest budget, and SPLOST is critical.” The page says SPLOST has funded capital projects for the past 30 years.
Mableton. City voters will also see: “Shall the Act be approved which authorizes the City of Mableton, Georgia, to exercise all redevelopment powers allowed under the ‘Redevelopment Powers Law,’ as it may be amended from time to time?” The act is House Bill 1213, Act 551. Its text says the intention is to let Mableton carry out community redevelopment, create tax allocation districts, issue tax allocation bonds and incur other obligations. It says the powers take effect only if more than half of the votes cast are for approval, and that the act is repealed on the following Jan. 1 if the vote fails. The county booklet’s Mableton list includes $47,000,000 for municipal building facilities and $31,400,000 for citywide roadway improvements, but those are SPLOST projects, not part of this question.
What groups have said. The county’s SPLOST page is informational and quotes local officials who back the program. GApolitics searched on Oct. 15 for published positions on both questions and found none from the groups listed below.
For the sales tax, the places searched were the Cobb County Democratic and Republican parties, the Cobb and Metro Atlanta chambers, South Cobb business groups, the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, the AFL-CIO, public employee and teacher unions, the Georgia and Cobb County Farm Bureaus, Cobb taxpayer associations, transit and trail advocates, neighborhood and civic associations and any Board of Commissioners resolution calling the vote, which was not found on the county’s site. For Mableton, the places were both county parties, the Cobb and Metro Atlanta chambers, South Cobb business groups, the labor council, the AFL-CIO, public employee and teacher unions, the Farm Bureaus, taxpayer groups, the Mableton Improvement Coalition, anti-cityhood groups and any City Council resolution requesting the act, which was not found. The searches also looked for a campaign committee on each question and found none.