Fulton mayors unify in support of penny sales tax -- with one exception

Fulton County mayors have a thought for the penny: they’ll support a regional sales tax only if others share in mass transit costs.

If they are going to support a 1-cent sales tax for a 10-county transportation plan, they want three neighboring counties to kick in extra money for regional transit, too.

“All we want is a regional transit system that is funded regionally,” Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos said.

The issue has been a rare unifying force in Fulton, which along with DeKalb has already paid a penny sales tax for more than three decades to build and maintain MARTA. DeKalb mayors -- whose cities make up just 15 percent of that county -- are likely to adopt a similar statement later this year.

The 13 Fulton mayors – representing all the cities except Atlanta – have emphasized they support the penny sales tax for regional transportation, just with that one caveat.

They will release their statement in a joint news conference Wednesday morning at the State Capitol. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed could not be reached for his response, though Galambos said he has offered his support to the smaller cities’ leaders.

The mayors insist they only want to be fair and take great care to say they don’t want Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties to pay for MARTA.

“I’m saying it’s inequitable for Roswell to pay 2 cents and East Cobb residents who get the same benefits to pay 1 cent,” Roswell Mayor Jere Wood said. “If it’s a regional tax we should all be paying the same amount.”

That likely means the region needs an entirely new transit agency that can link the hodgepodge of trains, buses and commuter vans that spider across the region daily.

That would require an act of the Legislature. The Legislature already began trying to tackle the transportation problem this year, by carving the state into 12 districts that will vote as one on whether to approve a regional sales tax for roads, mass transit and other transportation needs.

The metro Atlanta district encompasses Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties. Residents there will vote in 2012 on whether to support a new tax.

“My gut reaction is, the municipalities are coming together and making a stand that is clear and rational and well supported by their citizens,” said Bill Gannon, a Sandy Springs business owner who agrees with Fulton’s statement. “Going forward, there does have to be some fairness.”

What Fulton hasn’t offered in its pronouncement is any detailed plan on how to go forward. That has leaders in Gwinnett and Cobb puzzled over how to react, since there is no actual proposal to review. Clayton leaders could not be reached for comment.

“I don’t know enough about what they’re after,” said Gwinnett County Chairman Charles Bannister. “I certainly would like to see us all on the same page and working together.”

Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee said his county is still weighing what a new penny tax will mean for its residents. His constituents say they would be more willing to vote for the tax if it meant linking to MARTA but not paying for it outright.

“If the money were to go directly to MARTA without any connectivity, absolutely not,” he said.

Those kinds of details are now being weighed by two different regional panels, including a House transit commission examining how to combine the various independent transit agencies – including MARTA and systems in Cobb and Gwinnett – into one.

That panel is slated to deliver a preliminary answer by Dec. 31. A final recommendation is due by August 2011, which gives the Legislature time to act on its findings in the 2012 session – and before the November 2012 vote.

Fulton’s statement – and the reaction to it – are just the starting point to that work, said state Rep. Edward Lindsey, who is a member of the House commission.

“Everyone is coming to the table with a certain point of view,” Lindsey said. “It’s going to take a lot of work beyond that, though, to develop a truly workable regional plan.”

It appears so far that everyone is on board with that concept, at least in theory.

Todd Long, the planning director for the Georgia Department of Transportation, recently told the North Fulton mayors that the region will be “sunk” if the sales tax doesn’t pass and generate money, not only for buses and trains, but also for maintaining and improving roads.