“A year ago, I did not think that raising taxes was the way to deal with our budget,” said southeast Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, who joined northeast Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell in dissenting on the tax increase in last year’s 3-2 vote. “I still feel the same. We need to look at reducing the scope of government instead of raising taxes, especially in these economic times.”
Because the proposed millage rates are lower than the rollback rate, which is the rate that would be needed to bring in revenue equal to what the current rate will bring in, public hearings on the millage rate were canceled.
By keeping the millage rate the same, the county will bring in $1.7 million less in property tax revenue on the bills due Oct. 15 than it did in 2011, when it brought in $193.3 million, a decrease of 0.89 percent. County spokesman Robert Quigley said the county is making up for the difference by continuing to restrict spending and hiring.
Birrell wouldn’t say how she plans to vote, but added, “I didn’t support it last year, so I’ll leave it at that.”
The county’s current proposal would keep a general fund balance of 7.72 mills for the general fund, 3.06 mills for fire fund and 0.33 mills for debt service.
Last year, facing a $32 million budget shortfall, the Board of Commissioners approved a 15.7 percent millage rate increase, which increased taxes on a $200,000 home by $105.
Along with Chairman Tim Lee and southwest Cobb Commissioner Woody Thompson, the board’s only Democrat, northwest Cobb Commissioner Helen Goreham voted in the majority on the 2011 millage rate increase.
Goreham said Friday that the increase allowed the county to keep its AAA bond rating with all three rating agencies, which the county views as important because it collects taxes at the end of the fiscal year, meaning it has to borrow money at the beginning of the fiscal year. A strong bond rating allows it to borrow money at a lower interest rate.
“It provided a mechanism for the county to progress through the deepest part of the economic recession to put us in a position where we can grow and improve,” Goreham said. “If not, we would have been playing catch-up for many years just to reach our previous position.”
This year, whether homeowners see a property tax increase or decrease will depend on the value of their home. That could mean lower taxes for many residents, because 107,773 of Cobb’s 230,437 residential properties, or 47 percent, saw their values decrease between 2011 and 2012.
Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Board of Commissioners second floor meeting room at 100 Cherokee St. in Marietta.
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Big on hype short on substance.
They need to do their job.
The problem is they are experts at growing government, but when it comes to reducing the over sized bureaucracy they have worked so hard to create they come down with brain lock.
Good for him!!
I am hoping Commissioner Birrell's (my commissioner) response (“I didn’t support it last year, so I’ll leave it at that.” indicates she is sticking by her original stance.
When Ott starts referring to himself in the third person, as Lee has started to do recently, then I will start to be concerned.
At least Ott is smart enough to know that the BS you chamber folks keep talking these days is just not selling well in Cobb County these days.
Let's see:
User fees for the tennis facilities in the various parks around the county. Most neighborhoods in Cobb have tennis courts and pools and that is paid for by Neighborhood Association dues. Let the people that use the county owned courts pay a daily use fee and various ALTA and USTA tennis leagues pay a small seasonal fee for their use of the facilities.
User fees for the various sports fields around the county (soccer, baseball, football etc.)
Parking fees (similar to the Natl Park Service) at the trailheads for for the multi use trails like the Silver Comet, Noonday Creek and Rottenwood Creek Trails.
Corporate and/or neighborhood sponsorship for the ongoing maintenance of the planted medians in their immediate area.
Corporate sponsorship and school system payments for use of the Cobb Safety Village for instructional and teaching purposes.
A small annual fee for the issuance of a Cobb County Library card.
An annual fee for other county facilties like the Mountain View natatorium.
Maybe some of these are already being done but since you were asking for recommendations I thought I would throw some out there.
Sure some people will gripe, but for the most part this allows the people and organizations that are using these facilities to pay in proportion to their use of the facilities.
If you don't use them you don't pay.
County taxes which currently go to the maintenance of these facilties could be proportionately reduced.
In better times when the county was flush with revenue there was no problem. Now times are different.
We need to concentrate our scarce revenue on the basics.
TRACKS AND PLAY AREAS.
MANY OF THE CURRENT TAX PAYERS RAN AND PLAYED ON
NATURAL, GOD MADE TURF.
LET'S GO BACK TO NEED OVER WHANTS.
It's just that cutting spending is antithetical to the government-worker mind: It just makes no sense to them. Spending equals power, and power is to be preserved at a minimum, at all cost.
Until the voting public understands this, and demands full accountability (including the possibility of being fired) from bureaucrats, along with term limits for politicians -- both of which can prevent fiefdom-building by these individuals, any chance of actually controlling government spending, putting it back into a box of proper proportion, where it belongs -- will be minimal.
This is going to take a new generation, and continuous parade of leaders that truly believe in public service. I see very little of that character out there now.
Zero? If so, please be quiet.
Btw: this article is about the county operations, not school operations.
However, they do have one thing in common.
Wasteful spending and poor leadership.
The county just thinks they have no fat left in the budget to cut.
User fees for certain facilities need to be put in place. That in and of itselff would raise more revenue.
Cut out stuff like the Safety Village and have private companies sponsor those type of operations.
Take a look at Sandy Springs for some ideas about privatizing.
Better yet, stay on topic.
As you see he talks about tough times yet, he is not willing to sacrifice when it comes to his own salary and being a union shill.
I bet he has not offered to not take a salary for his County job either.
When you call Bob Ott a union shill, you are showing your total ignorance, besides telling a bald-faced lie.
Please have the good manners not to talk about truth then tell a lie.