Less than 24 hours after Cobb County commissioners passed a 15.7 percent tax increase, reality was setting in.
Lawmakers were looking forward to deliberations on savings for the upcoming 2012 budget that begins in October. Their constituents -- those for and against the tax hike -- were focused on their own budgets in a county that has been fiercely divided on taxes and spending.
The increase raises Cobb’s tax rate from 9.60 mills to 11.11 mills and adds about $105 to tax bills for homes worth about $200,000. Cobb has not raised its tax rate in more than two decades and has lowered the rate 11 times since 1990, but an increase was necessary to buoy the county's tax digest and declining tax revenues, some commissioners said.
The tax increase passed late Tuesday in a 3-2 vote after more than two hours of debate, most of it in opposition to the hike.
Mableton resident Joseph Stahl, 70, was already trying Wednesday to find the extra $105 in his budget.
“I’m not happy about [the tax increase] at all. I’m on a fixed income,” said Stahl, a 41-year county resident. “Nobody seems to give a flip about the seniors in this county that can't afford it.”
The tax increase helps plug a $33 million deficit for fiscal 2012, keeps the county from using $2 million in reserves this year and starts the process of filling several public safety vacancies.
But the tax hike does not eliminate the last two of five furlough days in August and September as Commission Chairman Tim Lee originally touted. Nor does the increase restore hours cut at county libraries, parks and aquatic centers.
“We wanted to keep the philosophy of cuts,” Lee said. “We didn’t want to go back and restore the services because we are still in tough economic times.”
Commissioner Bob Ott, who voted against the tax increase, was up early Wednesday morning already meeting with the county manager on a list of budget-cutting options.
"I think we go into budget deliberations as if we didn’t get the millage increase and make sure every expense is justified," he said. "I think nothing should change as far as budget cutting."
Commissioner Woody Thompson, who cast the deciding vote for the tax hike Tuesday and serves as public safety liaison on the commission, supported his vote and the remaining furloughs.
Nobody likes a tax hike, Thompson said, but with just two furlough days left and the tax increase, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“Any time you make tough decisions like that you have to live with it,” he said. “It was like the old days of tough zonings; I knew that half the people were going home mad at me.”
For east Cobb resident Wynn McCurdy, the tax increase was necessary to preserve the county’s quality of life.
“I see what the previous cuts have cost in the county with furloughs and employee morale,” she said. “I’m not looking through rose-colored glasses. I understand there is waste in government, but one of the first places people look to is recreation and arts, and those are the reasons why a lot of people moved to our community in the first place."
About the Author
