Maloy: 2005 SPLOST To Strike Again

Rumor has it that we might be experiencing somewhat of a soft economy. In fact, some people are saying that it’s the worst economy since the Great Depression.

They cite weekly jobless claims hovering around 400,000 for as long as recent memory serves. The unemployment rate is staying above 9 percent and everyone in Cobb County is tightening their belts—everyone but the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, that is.  

Just a few weeks ago, we were told that the commission needed to raise our property taxes to cover a budget shortfall of, oh, I don’t know, $15 or $20 or $31 or $38 million.

Even the commission, it seems, can’t get a good handle on how much it really is, and if you ask them twice, you will get two different answers. Strangely enough, they knew precisely how much of a rate increase they needed to squeeze out of us.   

What possibly could have caused such a budget shortfall? Didn’t the commissions cut services, establish furlough days, close senior centers, shorten library hours and increase various fees? 

Yes they did. Did it work? Apparently not. And it could be because the shortfall isn’t addressed by those so-called “austerity” measures. 

It could be that the budget shortfall is caused by some unintended consequences of the 2005 SPLOST. Perhaps the new infrastructure that was funded by the 2005 SPLOST is requiring maintenance expenditures that were never anticipated by those preparing the budgets.

Whether this is the actual reason remains to be seen, but it is true that larger infrastructure does increase maintenance costs. These costs come out of the general fund, and that’s the fund that is experiencing the shortfall. 

But the 2005 SPLOST is behind us and doesn’t affect what we do today, right?

Wrong! At the commission’s regular meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, the board will hold a hearing to request additional funding for several 2005 SPLOST projects.

One of the requests is for $71,178.64 for a special archeological study on the route for a proposed multi-use path along Dallas Highway, extending from John Ward Road to the Paulding County line. The Georgia Department of Transportation required the study after Civil War artifacts were discovered.

Wow, Civil War artifacts right next to a national Civil War battlefield. Who knew? 

This might prompt one to ask numerous questions: Why do we need a walking/bicycle path from John Ward Road to the county line? What’s in Paulding County that’s worth walking to? Why does the commission want to throw good money after bad? And what part of “recession” do these people not understand? 

This is just one example of the additional funding for 2005 SPLOST projects that the commission will be requesting at Tuesday’s meeting; the others are equally unnecessary and spend money we don’t have. 

I will be attending the meeting and will make one simple request of my own: “Please stop!”

Tom Maloy, a retired businessman and 30-year Powder Springs resident, is a board member of the Georgia Tea Party. Contact him at tom@thegeorgiateaparty.org.