Gov. Nathan Deal has created a “Transit Governance Task Force” to develop a legislative proposal for consideration by the legislature next January.
And that has some Fayette residents nervous they might be forced to pay a transit tax in the future, even though there currently is no transit service here.
But Fayette County state Representative Matt Ramsey said there isn’t any support in the legislature, outside of DeKalb and Fulton counties, for expanding the penny sales tax for MARTA.
“It would probably be a non-starter, from my perspective,” Ramsey said. “… I don’t think there’s any interest in putting additional taxpayers on the hook for MARTA for example from the standpoint of the existing financial structure.”
Ramsey said he thought the governor’s task force would be focused instead on how to reorganize transit in metro Atlanta.
“Transit has been, I think, putting it kindly, a fairly mismanaged and poorly run endeavor in metro Atlanta,” Ramsey said. “… I think they will probably spend some time looking at the mistakes that have been made and things that can be done to improve potentially those operations and the management of those entities.”
Deal’s order requires the task force to:
• Establish regional transit goals, vision and mission;
• Create a decision-making structure that includes representatives from state and local governments; and
• Designates a state agency or authority with the responsibilities of oversight and coordination of transit services in the metro Atlanta region.
Proponents of a regional transit agency argue there is a need to create a more seamless transit experience, particularly in interfacing commuter buses going to Atlanta from the suburbs with the MARTA system.
Transit opponents argue it is too costly compared to road improvements that would have a greater impact on improving traffic congestion. But transit advocates counter that metro Atlanta’s population growth in the next 30 years requires a significant investment in transit projects.
A proposed regional transportation sales tax that will be up for a vote next year.
Although there was a move afoot to switch the date of that vote from July 2012 to November 2012, it was withdrawn by Deal more than a month ago as he cited a lack of support from the legislature.
Ramsey said the only way he would have supported the date change for the vote would be if the legislature were to require all such SPLOST votes in the future to be held during general elections.
Critics said the date switch would have swayed the advantage in favor of the tax passage because Democrats are expected to show up in force in November in an effort to re-elect President Barack Obama.
The regional transportation sales tax referendum has been criticized because it is based on the aggregate regional vote, meaning the tax could be assessed here even if a majority of Fayette voters vote against it. Critics have also complained that the tax projects include some $3 billion in transit projects, although none of them would be operated in Fayette County.
