Anti-SPLOST Group Meets This Weekend

A Cobb County group which officially opposes the 2016 SPLOST will hold an organizational meeting this weekend in East Cobb to establish a grassroots campaign to fight the measure.

The Cobb Taxpayer’s Association (CTA) will be at the East Cobb Library on Roswell Road from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16. East Cobber reports that the meeting will serve as an information session about the 2016 SPLOST and will also be the springboard for a campaign in opposition to the tax, which will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The meeting will feature a PowerPoint presentation on the 2016 SPLOST and the reasons why CTA opposes it, and will also inform attendees about ways they can get involved to defeat the measure.

CTA President Lance Lamberton says the SPLOST gives county leaders a ”blank check” to misuse taxpayer funds for open-ended, wasteful projects. Lamberton says the best way to spur economic recovery is allowing citizens and businesses to keep more of their money through a lessened tax burden; if 2016 SPLOST fails at the polls, Cobb County’s sales tax rate would sit at five percent, the lowest tax rate in the region.

The group had a hand in defeating the 2012 TSPLOST, and has opposed every SPLOST since 2005. However, the group does support a fractional SPLOST that would help ease the burden on Cobb’s taxpayers.

This year’s SPLOST may be a tougher measure to defeat; among the projects on the county’s wish list is a $66 million overhaul of the Cobb County Police Department.