Cupid calls for Cobb to 'seize the moment' on transit in '22
Jan. 26—Cobb Chairwoman Lisa Cupid swept away remaining questions about her preferences for an upcoming mobility sales tax referendum Tuesday with a declaration that she's ready to put transit expansion before the voters this November.
"We know we're in a pandemic. We know that ... inflation is high, but I tell you commissioners, if we don't do it now, when do we do it?" Cupid said following an update on the proposal from transportation director Drew Raessler. "I have never seen a board more willing to do this than any board that I've served with over the past nine years."
It was one of the most forthright public statements on the referendum yet from Cupid, who's gone back and forth through her first year in office on when it should be held and what it should contain.
In broad strokes, the county has two options for the referendum: a 30-year sales tax to fund major long-term transit projects, or a five-year tax for trails and road improvements. Putting both on the ballot could risk both failing, with voters unwilling to swallow a potential 2% sales tax hike, setting the county's total rate at 8%.
Cupid came down firmly on the side of the former proposal, saying, "I'm putting my eggs in that basket that we at least try."
She added, "I strongly support us going down that path of focusing on (House Bill) 930 for November," referencing the legislation that allows for the 30-year transit tax.
As recently as December, Cupid told the MDJ she was still unsure of when the measure should move forward — either this year, or in 2024. "Our citizens are dealing with a lot right now," she explained.
There are also political considerations to be made, given presidential election years typically see the highest turnout from voters. On Tuesday, pointing to an infrastructure-friendly climate in Washington and "significant elections where people will be out at the polls" this year, she said Cobb has "an opportunity to do what this county has not done and seize the moment."
Whether her colleagues will heed that call remains to be seen, as Cupid had the last word on the matter Tuesday. But if it's to move forward this year, they'll have to act quickly. November, far off now, will be here soon enough, with no shortage of persuading the public to be done before then.
Public Input
The public themselves appears to be split into two major camps on which way the county should go, as far as a referendum is concerned — all in, or not at all.
That's according to Raessler, who presented the results of a survey from November on resident preferences for a new tax. The latest survey differs from an earlier one conducted last year in that it's not "scientific," i.e. participation was voluntary, and it doesn't claim to reflect a comprehensive slice of the county. Nonetheless, its findings don't differ significantly from the previous round.
One of the most telling slides Raessler presented was of the favored amount of the sales tax residents wanted. Both proposed options — five-year and 30-year — can be fractions of a penny, all the way up to a full 1%.
The two most popular responses to the survey, receiving nearly identical vote counts, were a flat "don't support," and, "One percent, the maximum allowed by law." A question on which type of transit should be created saw a similar spread, with roughly equal numbers for "heavy rail," and, "I will not use transit service."
Around 30% of respondents fell somewhere in between on both questions, and Raessler said there's a key slice of that group to be kept in mind when crafting the referendum — the totemic American idyll of the undecided voter.
"The one thing that I did keep coming back to, both in the scientific survey as well as in the survey here from November, is that 15% to 20% of the 'unsure,' or the — I would classify them again as the 'it depends' group — of making sure that whatever is put before the voters is very responsive to that group, and is something that does excite that group to come out."
