Wednesday morning Atlanta woke to learn Donald Trump had won the race for president. While obviously that was a huge story, lost in the election coverage was the passage of three sales tax measures that should have huge impact of traffic in Atlanta.
Fulton County and city of Atlanta residents voted yes to a MARTA referendum, an Atlanta T-SPLOST and a Fulton County T-SPLOST. What does this means for citizens of Atlanta and Fulton County and those who drive through both? To answer these questions I invited Fulton County Commission Chair John Eaves to my radio show on Thursday.
In case you missed it, the Fulton County T-SPLOST is a 0.75 percent sales tax outside of the city of Atlanta. The Atlanta T-SPLOST is a 0.4 percent sales tax, and the MARTA vote was a 0.5 percent sales tax. So, purchases in Atlanta will see an additional 0.9 percent sales tax and purchases in Fulton County will see an additional 0.75 percent sales tax on purchases.
“It is an increase and we are not making light of that,” Eaves said. “But it is a marginal increase, in terms of the per dollar amount that you have to pay. But the amount of revenue that will be generated is incredible. A billion dollars in terms of transportation infrastructure.”
The commission chair feels it will be a game changer for the area.
“It is great news in terms of infrastructure improvement,” Eaves said. “Close to a billion dollars of transportation improvement in the county including the city of Atlanta and 2.5 billion dollar investment for rail expansion for MARTA. It will have a tremendous impact on traffic relief and infrastructure improvement. its a great win win for the county and the city.”
The Fulton County tax will be distributed on the local level.
“There are 14 cities in Fulton County, outside of the city of Atlanta,” Eaves said. “Each of them will be appropriated a certain amount of dollars, of revenue, based on their population. Each city has developed a list of projects, road projects, bike paths, bridges, walkways, etc.”
The new taxes will go into effect in April, but cities in Fulton County have a list of projects ready to go.
“The generating of projects has already been done,” Eaves said. “Each city came up with its own projects. These are local projects, local oversight, local administration. The citizens will have the chance to see, touch and feel the projects in their back yard.”
To me I like the fact that residents of Fulton County won’t be the only ones to be paying the tax. Any visitors to the area will also be paying the tax whenever they buy anything.
This tax that we collect is not solely on the shoulders of Fulton County residents,” Eaves said. “The folks who travel through here, the folks that are here for conventions, etc., they are also contributing to this revenue.”
The MARTA tax is hoped to bring in $2.5 billion dollars over 25 years.
“The good news is that there will be a rail expansion in the City of Atlanta,” Eaves said. “To the Clifton Corridor and westward from Hamilton Holmes to the MLK- 285 Interchange.”
That might just be the beginning of the MARTA expansion.
It is good news, it is also going to be forerunner potentially to expansion of MARTA to the outer extremities of Fulton County,” Eaves said. Potentially to Windward Parkway to the north and Fulton Industrial Boulevard to the west.”
“It’s huge. It’s needed,” Eaves said. “I think the appetite of or citizens is open to it and I think it will add to the potential, strong, regional transit system in Atlanta.”
The Fulton and Atlanta T-SPLOSTs will last five years.
“It is a five year tax,” Eaves said. “At the end of the five years if we want to renew it. we have to go back to the voters and get their approval to extend the tax for an additional five years. We are very hopeful that through being good stewards and having the proper protocols and oversight in place that we will demonstrate to the voters that the monies that we do collect will be used appropriately that we will be within budget and be on time with the projects. We certainly see this awesome responsibility that has been placed in our hands and we will deliver.”
About the Author
