Cobb County voters will be asked on March 19 to renew a 1 percent sales tax expected to bring $773 million to their school districts over the next five years.
The Cobb and city of Marietta districts would use the money from the special purpose local option sales tax, or SPLOST, to complete hundreds of capital projects, including repairing or replacing dilapidated buildings and athletic facilities, and constructing a $29 million college and career academy.
Yet passage of the tax referendum is by no means assured, so SPLOST fans and foes are gearing up to influence the outcome.
If the tax isn’t extended, the school districts’ officials said they will have to find another way — most likely by issuing bonds — to fund projects they describe as critical.
Moreover, the school board is already facing austerity cuts of $80 million. If the referendum fails, those cuts could deepen, administrators said.
JoEllen Smith, a mother in the Cobb district, who said there’s standing water in her daughter’s school when it rains, supports the tax. “The cost of education is constantly on the back of homeowners,” she said. “Let the people who work here, travel through here, and stop and get a meal here take up some of the burden.”
Opponents of the proposal said the district’s record of how it has used SPLOST funds is shoddy at best. Millions of dollars have been spent on pork projects that barely meet state requirements, critics said, and they suspect future SPLOSTs would be no different.
“There’s a multitude of wasteful, redundant and unnecessary spending in this book (of new SPLOST proposals),” said Lance Lamberton, president of the Cobb Taxpayers Association.
Both opponents and advocates have spent the last few weeks raising funds for a raucous grass-roots campaign. They plan to hold dozens of forums, debates and rallies across the county and inform residents through fliers, word of mouth and social media.
The SPLOST option was provided in 1996 to school districts as a way to fund capital projects. Of the 562 education tax referendums held statewide since 1996, 94 percent — or all but 32 — have been approved by voters, a 2012 study found.
The Cobb County and city of Marietta school districts expect to collect about $797 million through the SPLOST referendum passed in 2008.
With those funds, Cobb has replaced three elementary schools, built three ninth-grade centers and upgraded several facilities, along with other projects.
“The history (of spending on SPLOST projects) has been lean, well-managed and efficient,” said Jay Dillon, the Cobb district’s spokesman. The district is now debt-free because of the tax, Dillon said.
Lamberton and other critics, however, contend several projects were over budget and not targeted toward education, such as placing AstroTurf on several practice fields.
“They’re spending gobs of money on recreation and Taj Mahal theaters,” Lamberton said, referencing Lassiter High School’s recently opened performing arts center. “When you see money being spent that way, and then they’re complaining about roofs that need to be replaced, or an HVAC needing to be replaced, their priorities are screwy.”
With the next SPLOST, Marietta’s school board is asking for $55 million to retire debt, renovate their football field and upgrade several facilities and technology.
Cobb board members paid a consultant $75,000 to compile a list of projects based on staff and community surveys.
The new SPLOST proposals, which have been posted on the district’s website, include replacing Walton High School, and purchasing $40 million worth of textbooks and $29 million worth of school buses.
Chris Ragsdale, the Cobb district’s deputy superintendent and manager of SPLOST projects, said the proposals only address about 35 percent of the district’s needs.
“These needs have to be paid for one way or another,” he said.
Not with taxes, folks in Cobb sometimes say.
- Cobb's first proposal for an education tax failed. The three campaigns since have been successful, with the last education SPLOST in 2008 passing with 60 percent approval.
- In July of last year, almost 69 percent of Cobb's voters struck down the 1 percent regional transportation SPLOST that would have funded road and mass transit projects across 10 counties.
- In 2011, a four-year extension of a SPLOST for parks, recreation and road renovation throughout Cobb passed by only 79 votes.
Lamberton said his group will work to tap into the county’s anti-tax culture.
“We really want to let people know the election is happening,” he said.
This month’s special election will cost Marietta and Cobb County schools $300,000.
Meghan Ritchie Wohlfarth, who recently started an organization to help fellow Cobb parents understand school budgets, wants the SPLOST renewed and said she’s ready for an uphill battle.
“Our big thing is to educate,” she said about her group’s campaign strategy. “This is not an additional tax, it’s a tax we’ve been paying for, for quite a few years. We all reap the benefits because people will want to move here, buy houses and send their kids to our schools.”
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