DEAR EDITOR:

My name is Jody Furr. My mother, Glenda Furr, applied in 2008 for our old family home place to be considered for the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond land for purchase. It is the Lewis A Furr trust property at 4570 Old Westside Road Austell. It is 14.6 acres with a lake in the valley. It has been in the Furr family since 1933, purchased by my grandfather, Grady Furr, in 1933. He ran the Furr Grocery Store in downtown Powder Springs from the ’40s to late ’60s. Some of the land was used for the Food for Freedom program through the US government to supply food, both vegetables and pork, for the war effort during World War II. My grandfather, Grady Furr, also bought and donated some separate land for the very first fire station in Powder Springs; and he built the fire station after someone lost their life due to a fire in Powder Springs. There was no fire station at the time. He and my grandmother, Elsie Furr, loved the Powder Springs/Austell community and gave back to it throughout the years. My uncle, Frank Furr, was also mayor of Powder Springs in the 1950s. My father, Lewis Furr, inherited the land when my grandmother passed in 1997. He had a talk with me right before he passed away in 2006 about wanting his land to stay like it was forever, to not be developed into a subdivision.

My mother, Glenda Furr, also felt strongly about the land staying as it was and not being developed. She was very happy to learn for a way for our land to be saved from development — the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond. That is why she applied our property for the 2008 Cobb Park Bond. She called me when the land nominating committee left and was so happy that they seemed to like the property and what she said about its history. She put so much thought into how Cobb County could use the land; she even suggested that maybe Cobb County could let veterans, especially those with PTSD, fish at the lake to help their anxiety. She got the letter in the mail saying that they had nominated it in the final list of properties for the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond. She was so happy that day. We all thought that it would possibly be preserved forever as greenspace.

Then, the economy went bad, and she was told that the park bond had been put on hold. Unfortunately, my mother, Glenda Furr, died of a massive stroke at age 70 in the fall of 2012. Now, we have a chance at making my grandparent’s and parent’s wishes come true. Our family hopes that our land can be saved as greenspace. We ask you to please vote to fully fund the 2008 parks bond and purchase our property since it was on the original list of nominated properties and is still available.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Jody Furr

Austell

Published in the The Marietta Daily Journal ​on January 26, 2016

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#1.  Park Bond 2008 Funding Goes Directly into Braves Ballpark Funding:

Here is the Cobb County Atlanta Braves SunTrust Park FAQ Page explaining how the Braves stadium funding uses Park Bond money, but note Park Bond 2008 has not yet been funded.  That is the key issue.

• Will my property taxes be used to pay for this (the new Braves stadium)?
  Currently .33 mills of your property taxes pay for the parks bonds that were issued in 1996, 2007 and 2008. The last of those bonds will be paid off in 2017 and 2018. The millage will then be shifted to the General Fund when these bonds expire to raise an equivalent amount of revenues of $8.67 million. Those monies will then be used to pay for bonds to finance SunTrust Park construction. The average amount of .33 mills per household is $26 per year and this shift of funding will not impact other government services such as police, libraries, parks and other services. From Cobb County Atlanta Braves SunTrust Park FAQ Page

The $40 million Park Bond 2008 can easily be funded before moving the money into the Braves stadium. 

#2. The Board Claims Park Bond Funding Time Has Run Out, When the Board Set the Clock:

Chairman Lee claims Park Bond 2008 cannot be fully funded with the entire $40 million as voters approved, even though it was the Cobb County Board of Commissioners that decided 7 years ago not to fund the Park Bond 2008 Referendum.  67% of Cobb voters approved the 2008 Park Bond Referendum. Now Chairman Lee wants to say the Park Bond has "run out" of funding, despite the fact that it was the Board that decided not to fund it in 2009! 

Clearly, if the Board can change the Park Bond by not issuing it, the Board can change the Park Bond repayment timeline and fully fund it now, as voters decided by Referendum vote in 2008.  The Park Bond amount must honor the original vote for $40 million, not some arbitrary amount, especially now when the Board is moving the Park Bond money for another project, in this case the Braves stadium.
 

#3. The Board Should Prevent Further Loss of Cobb Property, History & Family Legacies:

Of the 29 properties selected for purchase around Cobb County, many have already been developed.  Waiting another second before funding this Park Bond would be irresponsible.  Many landowners on the 2009 list have lived in Cobb County for generations, and streets, neighborhoods and schools have been named for them. These philanthropists and pillars of society have been waiting to save their land for the community and greater good for years.   Many historical homes, barns, and farmland and the stories they contain will continue to be lost if the 2008 Park Bond is not fully funded now. 

According to the Chairman's plan, January 26 will set in motion at least a 10-month review process before making any true funding decisions.  ​If the Park Bond is not funded before May 2016, the Chairman's Park Bond efforts would appear like an election year scheme.      

After waiting more than 7 years to donate their land for a park, many families sold their beautiful perfectly located properties.  Don't let another property disappear. Let the Board know, it's time to fund the Park Bond now.  
 

#4. How the Board Can Authorize Park Bond Repayment in Just 4 years & No Tax Increase:  

Funding Park Bond 2008 requires no tax increase, because more than enough millage currently exists in the long-standing Debt Service Fund to repay Park Bond 2008 in just 4 years time, well within the original 2023 time frame.
 
In November 2013, the original Braves stadium plan took all Park Bond money (.33 millage), but then at the 2-year anniversary of the Braves announcement in November 2015, Chairman Lee said only .23 will be required for the Braves stadium financing, leaving .1 available for Park Bond 2008. 

Note that the entire .33 millage belongs to the Debt Service Fund, which has always been earmarked for Park Bond payments. 
​
If the full .33 were applied, it would only take 4 years to repay Park Bond 2008.  If just the .1 were applied (after shifting the other .23 to the Braves), it would take about 13 years.  The original Park Bond 2008 was planned for 15-year repayment terms.  Either scenario (.1 millage or .33 millage) should be funded now.  

• The Board could use the full .33 millage earmarked for 4 years:  
  .33 millage x 4 years = 9+ million x 4 years = $40 million 
  
  OR
  
  
• The Board could use the remaining .1 millage for 13 years:  
  .1 millage x 13 years = 3+ million x 13 years = $40 million  
  
  

However, Chairman Lee has said the Bonds will expire at 2023, so only $19 million or less than 1/2 the $40 million Park Bond 2008 amount would be available, even though it was the Board that decided not to fund the Park Bond in 2009!
  
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#5. Georgia Supreme Court Precedent:  Voter Referendums Must Be Funded
 
Voter Referendums are binding in democracies.  While we recognize that the Cobb County Commission has broad discretion to exercise control over public property and to conduct county affairs, Commissions do not have the legal authority to divert funds or ignore a referendum passed by a majority of the Cobb county voters. 
 
In a recent Georgia Supreme court case, the court found that SPLOST funds allocated for “recreational facilities and multi-purpose governmental facilities” were being diverted by Floyd County Commissioners to other projects. The court held that the “Board is not authorized to use proceeds from the SPLOST tax for a purpose entirely different from that contained in the SPLOST budget and account reports.” The court held that the Commission was bound by the projects listed unless they became “infeasible.”  The Supreme Court stated that “infeasible” could not be used by the Commission as an excuse to divert the funds to what they considered to be a better project or away from a project they no longer supported. The Court held that even if the project was considered to be “infeasible” it would be an abuse of discretion for the Commission to abandon the project altogether.
 
This is an indication that the Georgia Supreme Court looks unfavorably toward Commissions who use “infeasible” as an excuse to divert funds to promote their own public interests or to not act on a referendum altogether.  Therefore, the Commissioners have a fiduciary duty to the people of Cobb County to fund the $40 million mandated by a majority of the voters to buy land for future parks as stated in the 2008 Park Bond Referendum.  

​We are pleased to hear some amount of the voter-approved Park Bond 2008 Referendum funds will be issued at the January 26 Board of Commissioner meeting, and we fully support the plan to purchase available properties selected as potential parks in 2009.

However, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners Plans to Fund Only $19 million, Less Than ½ of the $40 million Park Bond Referendum voters approved in 2008. Help Us Encourage the Board to Honor the Vote & Fully Fund $40 million Park Bond 2008 before the January 26 at 7pm Board of Commissioners meeting.  
 
Where is the tax money for Park Bond 2008?  Earmarked Park Bond 2008 funds are being moved to the Braves stadium finance bonds before funding Park Bond 2008. Moving earmarked voter-approved referendum ​funds for the Park Bond into any other project before funding the Park Bond is not how it works in a democracy.

• Funding ½ the Park Bond would mean: Votes don't count.  The Board of Commissioners is deciding the outcome of a Referendum rather then allowing the Voters vote to count: In 2008, over 67% of Cobb voters voted to approve the full $40 million, and the money was already earmarked in the Debt Service Fund.  Yet in 2009, the Board postponed voter-approved Park Bond 2008 funding.  Now 3x more Debt Service Fund funds are available to quickly pay for Park Bond 2008 without raising taxes. The Board only needs to update the repayment dates. The legal basis to keep the same repayment plan no longer exists because the Park Bond wasn't funding in 2008 as voters intended.

(Urge Commissioners to fully fund $40 million Park Bond 2008, as voters intended and already available in the earmarked Debt Service Fund)

• Funding ½ the Park Bond would mean: Debt Service Funds are reallocated to another project without funding Park Bond 2008 as earmarked first.  The Cobb Braves FAQ page directly states funds are transferred from Park Bonds into Braves funding, yet Park Bond 2008 was never funded.  (The issue is using Earmarked Park Bond funds for any other purpose before using those funds for parkland purchase as voters intended.)

• Funding ½ the Park Bond would mean: Cobb will lag behind even more in achieving its own greenspace goals. According to Cobb's own 2030 Comprehensive Plan, more than 8,000 acres should be protected as parkland or greenspace, yet Park Bond 2008 could protect at most 400 acres if fully funded. 

• Funding ½ the Park Bond would mean:  Democracy is not working here, if a Voter-Approved Referendum is not honored despite available tax funds. Park Bond 2008 Referendum overwhelmingly passed with 67% of the vote, and it has not been funded.  Earmarked Park Bond funds are planned for another project, in this case the Braves Stadium, before funding parkland as voters intended in the 2008 Referendum.

 ​

Citizens voted for parks bonds, tax hike or not

DEAR EDITOR:

Here’s my current assessment about the Parks Bond issue ... 

We have some good news at last. Cobb’s Board of Commission Chairman Tim Lee was quoted in the MDJ (12-31-15) that he plans to take the first step towards issuing the 2008 park bonds to purchase open land for public parks. He also said that he was going to propose forming a new green space committee to locate new properties that may be obtainable with the parks bond money. Nevertheless, since the $40 million referendum was overwhelmingly approved in 2008, the binding rules of the bond resolution and the nearly seven year delay is not good news. As a result, when the remaining parks bonds are issued they will generate a significantly smaller amount of money to acquire available park land. In addition, there is far less land remaining these days to pick from than in 2008 and the prices are considerably higher per acre. And that’s bad news.

Tim Lee also said that he has adopted his predecessor’s, Sam Olens, position not to issue the parks bonds if it would amount to a tax hike. After doing some searching, I couldn’t find any written information to substantiate Sam Olens position. Mr. Olens’ position certainly wasn’t pointed out to the public prior to the parks bond referendum vote. 

Even before the Atlanta Braves and the Cobb Board of Commissioners created, approved and signed their Memorandum of Understanding in November 2013, Cobb County’s economy had already rebounded and recovered. So here’s the approved parks bond in line way ahead of the Atlanta Braves waiting for the county BOC to issue the bonds. Tim Lee now says that when the budget cycle came around each year they looked at the Parks bond and said no. So why did they say NO each year? 

Meanwhile, the BOC and the Braves literally shoved the parks bond referendum aside and quickly moved to the front of the line for issuing bonds causing a major disturbance with 190,271 voters that approved the parks bond referendum. And on top of it all, neither the BOC or the Braves asked any citizen if it was OK with them.

Based on Mr. Lee’s intentions to go forward, wouldn’t it be a great idea to immediately begin the process of issuing the parks bonds and then select a new land search committee in due time? 

This is my final question. Is there a law that decrees an elected official can’t raise taxes without being kicked out of office? Our elected county officials act like there’s one.

Joe O’Connor
Marietta

Published on January 10, 2016 in the Marietta Daily Journal 

The Marietta Daily Journal - If we can fund stadium we can find money for greenspace ​
January 3, 2016

DEAR EDITOR:

As a member of both the committees appointed by the commissioners to identify potential park land, I encourage our current board to consider respecting the vote of the citizens and proceed to explore funding the acquisition of park/green space that may still be available. We spent hours of our personal time (unpaid) and traveled many miles only to find at the last minute that our efforts were in vain, due to commitment of the Commission Chair not to raise taxes. Retrospectively, not sure that the decision was in the best long-term interest of the county.

If we can find funding for a Braves Stadium, surely we can find funding for the benefit of present and future generations that need “green” space, space quickly disappearing. 

Jimmy Durham
Acworth

Published in the Marietta Daily Journal on January 3, 2016.  View the original link here.