If a new transit agency is created to handle bus and rail service in the Atlanta region, Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele says he doesn’t want Fayette County to have any part in it.
Any new such agency should only have jurisdiction, and a likely sales tax, in counties that “either have transit at this time or would like to have transit,” Steele said in an interview last week.
A resolution passed last month by the metro Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable includes such language, Steele said. He added, however, that the final decision rests with the Georgia legislature.
Furthermore, Steele noted, there are no bus and rail projects planned for Fayette County in the future, since it is not wanted here, he added.
“It has nothing to do with Fayette County,” Steele said. “… At this point in our history, we do not have a need nor the desire, nor is there a business plan for (transit in) Fayette County. The entire region understands that, except for a couple of fools in Fayette County.”
County Commissioner Steve Brown has contended vehemently that the regional transit authority, when created, will suck tax dollars from Fayette County.
Already, Fulton and DeKalb counties pay a one percent sales tax to partially fund MARTA, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, which runs bus and rail service inside the perimeter.
And more transit funding could be coming via a regional transportation sales tax, if it is ultimately approved by voters across the 10-county metro Atlanta region, which includes Fayette County. If a regional transit authority were to be created, it is not known whether MARTA would remain a separate agency or if it would be rolled into the new transit authority.
There also will be funding for road improvements and other transportation projects in the sales tax, which will be up for a vote in June 2012.
Peachtree City is hoping to have several crucial cart path projects approved for possible funding by the sales tax.
The projects for the potential sales tax are being decided by the 21-member RTR, and Fayette is represented in that group by Fayetteville Mayor Steele and County Commission Chairman Herb Frady.
Both Steele and Frady have said they will wait to decide whether they will support the sales tax until the final list of projects is approved. Both men have said they want to make sure Fayette County will get back projects in an amount equal to the funding Fayette County will chip into the tax, projected at $205 million over the 10-year levy.
Region wide, the tax is estimated to rake in some $7 billion over the 10-year period. If it’s approved by voters, that is.
The rub is that even if Fayette County voters shoot the tax down, the sales tax would be assessed here if it is approved by the aggregate of voters in the entire region.
