The Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 was a positive game-changer for the 2008 Park Bond and for the Braves Stadium financing plan.
1. The millage rate approved by the Board of Commissioners respected Park Bond 2008 funding without a tax increase.
2. The BoC restructured how the Braves stadium bond will be financed with the millage rate, so it can no longer be asserted that Cobb County is using all the Park Bond funds for the Stadium Bond.
Thank you for your efforts to email, call and encourage the county to do the right thing with the $40 million Park Bond Cobb citizens voted for and overwhelmingly approved on November 4, 2008. Your actions made a difference!
Chairman Boyce has championed the Park Bond voter-approved referendum that 2 previous Chairmen and the Board of Commissions neglected to fund for over 8 years. We thank Chairman Boyce and the current Board of Commissioners for the July 25 meeting results. Chairman Boyce and other Commissioners have promised to fund the remainder of the Park Bond in a future budget, which is also possible without a tax increase simply by a continuation of the millage already available.
The Finer Details: On July 25, 2017, the Board of Commissioners decided to shift only a portion (.1 mills instead of .23 mills) of the Debt Service Fund millage toward the Braves stadium bond and fund the remainder from a diffferent source in the budget.
Also at the July 25 meeting, $27.5 of the $40 million Park Bond 2008 Referendum was officially funded from the remaining millage of the Debt Service Fund (.13 mills), without a tax increase, and without shifting all the millage to the Braves stadium bond as had been planned since 2013 in the Cobb County - Braves stadium finance plan. That plan would have used the entire millage rate of the Debt Service Fund as one of the funding sources for the $400 million Stadium Bond, but before using a portion of that millage to fund the $40 million Park Bond as intended since 2008.
To summarize, millage will stay for Park Bond 2008 funding as planned since 2008, when voters approved $40 million to preserve land as parks in our beautiful county.
You can listen to the amazing Park Bond supporters at the July 25 meeting here.
News Stories on the Cobb adopting the same millage rate & Park Bond 2008 funding:
WSB TV: Cobb County commissioners vote down proposed tax hike
MDJ: Cobb commissioners reverse course, keep millage rate the same
AJC: No property tax rate increase for Cobb County
ECN: BREAKING NEWS: Cobb commissioners hold line on 2017 property tax millage rate
ECN: Cobb Parks Coalition: Fulfilling 2008 bond referendum doesn’t require tax increase
MP: Commission Votes To Keep Property Tax Rate The Same In Cobb
AJC: An easy guide to Cobb 2017 property taxes
WSB TV: Cobb County commissioners vote down proposed tax hike
MDJ: Cobb commissioners reverse course, keep millage rate the same
AJC: No property tax rate increase for Cobb County
ECN: BREAKING NEWS: Cobb commissioners hold line on 2017 property tax millage rate
ECN: Cobb Parks Coalition: Fulfilling 2008 bond referendum doesn’t require tax increase
MP: Commission Votes To Keep Property Tax Rate The Same In Cobb
AJC: An easy guide to Cobb 2017 property taxes