Maloy: Alternatives Exist to Tax Increase

Back in April when Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee floated his idea to and increase the property tax rate by only a half mill, : “Very likely, this proposal is simply a way to scare Cobb citizens into accepting, not just a half mill tax increase, but the entire ball of wax; a 1.5 to 2.0 mill increase that will be permanent and will cover the entire $31 million budget hole. This will increase the actual tax on a $200,000 home by $100 to $140.” 

Well, here we are in July and guess what: The Cobb County Board of Commissioners has not only shuttered two senior centers, that we can use libraries and curtailed other services, but now is proposing a 1.6 mill hike in our property taxes. 

So we’re getting the worst of all possible worlds, and I’m writing yet another column about politicians who believe the answer to every issue is a tax increase.   

If some of the responses to are any indication, some of you, who love to pay extra taxes for an ever-expanding government, will no doubt want to steer the conversation toward minutia and away from the real issue. 

That issue, of course, is that Lee and one or two of the other commissioners are hellbent on raising your property taxes even if that means ignoring some obvious cost savings in the process.   

For the past five months, the Citizen Oversight Committee, impaneled by Lee at the insistence of Commissioner Bob Ott, has been working to find cost savings that could reduce or eliminate the need for a tax hike. 

They’ve already identified several areas where such potential exists. They will quantify these cost savings in their next report scheduled for August. Some of their suggestions appear to be obvious no-brainers.

For example, are you aware that about $4 million of your tax dollars are going to fund jobs that have gone unfilled? There are between 600 and 800 unfilled positions in the Cobb government, yet the county continues to fund them. When the money isn’t spent, it’s used for something else.

If this funding were cut from the budget it would reduce the budget "hole" by $4 million without reducing any services, furloughing anyone or creating a layoff. And that’s just one area.

The commission also might want to get a bit more creative with the operation of Cobb Community Transit, which requires an annual subsidy of some $13 million just to stay in business. Their idea of creativity so far has been to , representing a mere drop in CCT’s bucket of red ink, and thus negatively affecting those people who are most in need of public transportation. 

Ah, but they do suggest some creative options for those disabled and disaffected riders: carpool, vanpool, shuttle services, employer shuttle, bicycle, telecommute, ride match, ride share, taxi, guaranteed ride home, private transportation vendors, travel training, trip planning, and walking.

If only those options were available to all the riders of CCT, we could save $13 million. Oh wait, they are.

Unfortunately, we may never know if the Oversight Committee’s recommendations will include CCT because by the time they publish their quantified findings in August, the tax hike may be a done deal. 

More unfortunate is that the commission may continue to ignore their recommendations, and the Citizen Oversight Committee’s work will have been wasted. 

Currently, Lee and 1st District Commissioner Helen Goreham support the tax hike. Commissioner Bob Ott of the 2nd District and Woody Thompson of the 4th are solidly opposed, and it appears that JoAnn Birrell of the 3rd is still somewhat uncommitted—a swing vote, perhaps. 

Obviously, the chairman wants to nail down this millage rate increase before tax bills are mailed on Aug. 15, but without the benefit of the Oversight Committee’s quantified recommendations, he can’t possibly know if a tax increase is even necessary, and if so, how much.

It would behoove the commission to postpone any consideration of a tax hike until they have all the information pertinent to the issue. 

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.