MARTA Expansion into Clayton = Long awaited Commuter Rail? (Atlanta, Savannah: appointed, manufacturing)

[cqholt]

What weak stuff.

[PKCorey]

Clayton County Board of Commissioners votes to levy only half-cent sales tax to enter MARTA | Clayton News Daily

“I feel strongly the MARTA Board will not approve half-cent participation,” MARTA Board Chairman Robbie Ashe said at Tuesday’s meeting.
MARTA Board will meet Wednesday morning to vote on whether to allow Clayton County onto its board with the half-penny sales tax.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by skbl17

The Commission has voted 3-2 to place a 0.5% sales tax on the November ballot: Clayton to get half-penny MARTA referendum | www.ajc.com

And so, Clayton County may finally get their chance to "fully" join MARTA and get bus service back...and that's it. I'd actually like to know why two commissioners voted no; if I had to guess, it's probably the fact that it's a 0.5% sales tax, not a 1% one like Fulton and DeKalb are paying.

- skbl17

Best part of the article:

It’s unclear if the MARTA board will approve the Clayton’s participation in the transit system without the same level of sales tax support that Fulton, DeKalb and the city of Atlanta contribute.
MARTA Board Chairman Robbie Ashe told commissioners Tuesday he could provide no guarantees.
“I do not believe majority support for such approach exists on our board or among our existing jurisdictions,” Ashe said.

Clayton may have shot themselves in the foot on this one.

[MattCW]

So what will happen if the 0.5% is rejected by MARTA? Will this go back to the Clayton commissioners and could they still get the 1% on November's ballot?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by skbl17

The Commission has voted 3-2 to place a 0.5% sales tax on the November ballot: Clayton to get half-penny MARTA referendum | www.ajc.com

And so, Clayton County may finally get their chance to "fully" join MARTA and get bus service back...and that's it. I'd actually like to know why two commissioners voted no; if I had to guess, it's probably the fact that it's a 0.5% sales tax, not a 1% one like Fulton and DeKalb are paying.

- skbl17

There were a couple who were afraid it would drive retail business to surrounding counties. My guess is that's pretty unlikely.

[mattee01]

I hope this doesn't mean what I think it means... If MARTA rejects the half penny proposal can Clayton come back and do what they should've done in the first place (full penny)?

The full amount will insure that bus and rail service at least meets the minimum needs for now. I would be willing to speculate that with the new connectivity and access to jobs that the residents would have, Clayton could double its sales tax revenue in a decade and make an even bigger MARTA impact in the county.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Which documents did you read? Those numbers aren't at all what I've seen.

MARTA > About Marta > Planning

Go to Appendix A, page 13. (preliminary order of magnitude capital cost estimating methodology).


As for the $200 million, that is on page 42 of the Definition of Alternatives, entire appendix under the GA400 documents.

[magnetar]

The three commissioners’ reservations against the full penny likely stemmed from a letter from Norfolk Southern’s General Director of Passenger Policy John Edwards cautioning the board against thinking using the train company’s existing track would be at all cost or time efficient.

Knew it. Any time a city in the Atlanta metro starts to get serious about commuter rail plans, Norfolk Southern sends out a well-time letter that blows it out of the water.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by MattCW

So what will happen if the 0.5% is rejected by MARTA? Will this go back to the Clayton commissioners and could they still get the 1% on November's ballot?

They have until Saturday to agree to it and call a new quorum or its dead.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by magnetar

Knew it. Any time a city in the Atlanta metro starts to get serious about commuter rail plans, Norfolk Southern sends out a well-time letter that blows it out of the water.

I wouldn't read much into it. I don't know of a single commuter rail project except maybe the Music City Star where the freight road hasn't screamed "Billions of dollars for capacity or no deal!" and the politicians screamed back "Give us the slots for free!" They have always found a middle ground once the dust has settled and Atlanta will be no different. Don't forget, plenty of commuter service is operated on far busier tracks than anything Atlanta has.