DIGGING DEEPER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been following every step of the effort to let Clayton County voters decide whether to join MARTA since March, when the General Assembly passed legislation allowing the county to raise its sales tax rate to 8 percent from 7 percent to fund public transportation. View past coverage at our premium website, MyAJC.com, and check there Saturday for updates on how the commissioners vote.
A last-ditch effort to revive public transportation in Clayton County appeared to have hit a wall Thursday.
Two of the three commissioners considered possible swing votes for a MARTA penny sales tax, Gail Hambrick and Sonna Singleton, emailed virtually identical letters to constituents Thursday reaffirming their opposition to a 1-cent-per-dollar sales tax to fund rail and bus service.
The third commissioner, Michael Edmondson, has never wavered from his objection to anything higher than a half-cent sales tax.
If no one budges, a special meeting called by Chairman Jeff Turner for 10 a.m. Saturday to try to salvage a deal with MARTA is futile.
The Clayton Commission voted 3-2 on Tuesday to let voters to decide Nov. 4 whether to pay a sales tax of a half-penny per dollar to fund bus service. Turner and Commissioner Shana Rooks argued fervently for placing the full penny option on the ballot, citing overwhelming public support for both rail and buses, but they were overruled.
A half-penny would raise about $25 million per year — enough to provide robust bus service, but not enough to fund a MARTA rail expansion.
However, the MARTA board rejected the half-penny deal on Wednesday, saying it was unfair to other jurisdictions (the city of Atlanta, Fulton and DeKalb counties) that have been paying a full penny for decades. Instead the board sent an amended agreement back to Clayton that would only allow the commission the option of approving a 1-cent sales tax.
The proposed agreement also included an extraordinary provision to ensure any excess funds collected in Clayton would be used only within the county for future high-capacity passenger service, such as bus rapid transit, commuter rail or heavy rail.
If the county doesn’t vote to approve the measure by Sunday, state legislation that enabled Clayton to raise its sales tax to 8 percent from 7 percent to join MARTA will expire. And Clayton will be stuck in its current predicament as the only core metro Atlanta county without local public transportation.
In a note to supporters on Wednesday, Citizens for Progressive Transit identified Hambrick as “the commissioner most likely to change her mind,” and urged supporters to contact her.
But Hambrick’s email made clear she will not attend the meeting Saturday due to “long-standing plans” for the Fourth of July weekend.
Both Hambrick’s and Singleton’s emails to constituents accused MARTA of reneging on an offer to allow a half-penny deal. And they voiced concerns about recent resistance from Norfolk Southern to having the proposed MARTA passenger trains run on or alongside its freight rail tracks.
A Norfolk Southern official wrote to MARTA on June 24, questioning MARTA’s proposed eight-to-10-year timeline to start passenger rail service and its estimated cost of $270 million to $350 million. Both figures are probably “drastically understated,” according to Norfolk Southern.
The railroad company’s letter fueled doubts among several of the commissioners about MARTA’s ability to deliver on its promises for rail.
Transit advocates said they haven’t given up hope that an agreement can be forged.
“Honestly, we’re still focusing on trying to get Hambrick there and trying to get her to change her mind,” said Lee Biola, president of Citizens for Progressive Transit. “If one of the other commissioners flipped, that would be great, too.”
It was not clear Thursday whether Singleton or Edmondson will attend the meeting Saturday. Neither returned calls seeking comment.
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