DeKalb County says MARTA sales tax conflicts with SPLOST proposal (Decatur: property taxes, cost)

[jsvh]

DeKalb County says MARTA sales tax conflicts with SPLOST proposal | www.ajc.com

Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May and the DeKalb Board of Commissioners recently wrote a letter saying the county “has been placed in a very awkward posture” because a vote on raising MARTA sales taxes could conflict with the county’s infrastructure sales tax proposal.

Letter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxY...dUc2Ixamc/view

Unfortunately, the proposed half-penny competes with our top sales tax priority to advance a one cent SPLOST referendum in November 2016 to meet the basic essential needs of our constituency--crumbling roads.

Wonder how long we can keep throwing more and more tax dollars after roads can go on before we realize it doesn't fix the problem? Wonder how many of those road building companies are buddies of DeKalb leadership?

[fieldm]

Huhh, I think heavy rail is much more important than SPLOST

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by fieldm

Huhh, I think heavy rail is much more important than SPLOST

Heavy Rail, Light Rail, Arterial Rapid Transit, and local city Circulators.

[AnsleyPark]

Repairing current infrastructure is pretty darn important.

[skbl17]

I posted this in the other thread, but if the MARTA proposal is killed because of this, I'm voting no. I support repairing infrastructure, but I don't trust the DeKalb County government to do it. After two indictments in the county's highest echelons, embezzled funds, and shady negotiation tactics (AUFC,) I absolutely can't trust them.

Why not "0.5% roads, 0.5% MARTA"? That seems sane and reasonable, and both the county (hopefully; for all we know, the commissioners might embezzle funds again) and MARTA would benefit. Unfortunately, that's too reasonable for the people in the ivory tower in Decatur; how about 1% for roads and 0% for MARTA?

This county finds so many ways to tick me off....

- skbl17

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Repairing current infrastructure is pretty darn important.

Roads should only be funded by user fees but if even that plus fuel taxes and property taxes are not enough to keep them maintained then it is obvious their are other problems that need to be fixed by more than additional tax revenue:

1. Our road infrastructure is too over-built to be sustained in a lot of places.

2. Many of these government contracts are corrupt.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Roads should only be funded by user fees but if even that plus fuel taxes and property taxes are not enough to keep them maintained then it is obvious their are other problems that need to be fixed by more than additional tax revenue:

1. Our road infrastructure is too over-built to be sustained in a lot of places.

2. Many of these government contracts are corrupt.

Well then, don't tax folks who don't ride MARTA to pay for it. Just charge all riders $75 per trip.

[cqholt]

Please write your DeKalb County Commissioner and ask them to support 0.5% sales tax.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Well then, don't tax folks who don't ride MARTA to pay for it. Just charge all riders $75 per trip.

MARTA can do that right around the time GDOT/SRTA make all roads tolled. Fair is fair.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Well then, don't tax folks who don't ride MARTA to pay for it. Just charge all riders $75 per trip.

As had been discussed in multiple other places. I am fully on board with paying for all transportation with 100% user fees. Roads get much more in subsidies than transit.

Also, MARTA cost for each unconnected rail trip is about $2.50 per already