As we move toward the July 31 vote for the region’s landmark transportation referendum, the DeKalb Chamber remains fully in support of this progressive plan to tackle metro Atlanta’s traffic woes and transportation needs.
Leonardo McClarty, DeKalb Chamber of Commerce President
In spending approximately $8 billion for more than 150 projects, the Atlanta region receives more than $34 billion back by 2040. Thanks to the increased travel time savings and reduced fuel costs this plan will bring about, regional residents will save a combined total of more than $18 billion, in current dollars, by 2040. The transportation referendum, and the investment it represents, will support 34,000 construction jobs by 2040 and an additional 200,000 jobs, including those that are supported year-over-year.
The DeKalb Chamber (Chamber) would like to commend and thank CEO Burrell Ellis and Mayor Bill Floyd for their leadership on the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. The adoption of the Transportation Investment Act (TIA) project list demonstrates leadership and regional cooperation by CEO Ellis and Mayor Floyd. In light of the total sum of funds and the allocation to DeKalb, the Chamber believes that DeKalb County received its fair share of $1.017 billion from the $6.14 billion. DeKalb County’s project list is as follows:
- I-285 at I-85 – $26.5 million
- Lenox Road – $5 million
- Buford Highway – $12 million
- CSX Bridge at Emory – $25 million
- Glenwood Road – $5 million
- Indian Creek Corridor – $5 million
- N. Druid Hills Road Corridor – $25 million
- Panola Road widening – $31 million
- Panola Road at I-20 – $21 million
- Mt. Vernon Road to Dunwoody Club Drive – $12 million
- Buford Hwy Connector – $25 million
- I-20 East MARTA corridor improvements – $225 million
- Clifton Corridor – $700 million
In addition, DeKalb County will receive another $149 million in discretionary funds, a call center and funds to go toward MARTA’s “state of good repair”, which will be funded by everyone in the region.
We, along with many others in DeKalb County, would have liked to have seen more funds dedicated to the expansion of rail down I-20. However, we are pleased that $225 million was allocated especially considering that originally no monies were set aside. Moreover, these funds can be used to leverage additional funds in the future.
Because I-20 was not funded to a greater degree, there are some who have publically stated they will not support the TIA and may in fact advocate against its passage. However, to actively engage in defeating the TIA would be harmful to DeKalb, as a whole, and certainly does not move us forward. The fact is at the present time there are no other alternatives for addressing our transportation deficiencies. The TIA process as it stands has the potential to be a major economic generator not only for DeKalb County but for the Atlanta region as a whole. The inability to pass the TIA limits our ability to compete regionally and domestically.
It is critically important that we pass the TIA because our future economic prosperity depends upon it. Rest assured, the DeKalb Chamber will do everything possible to inform and educate the citizens of DeKalb County to ensure that decisions are based upon facts and merits.
-Leonardo McClarty
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NO NEW TAXES. Do as I have to do with what I have!
When the good people of South DeKalb pay the MARTA tax for 30 long years and the “leadership” of this region decides the Atlanta economic development project called the Beltline and a new rail line with low ridership to Cobb County is more important than the desires of those in South DeKalb, the referendum deserves to lose on moral grounds.
MARTA bailout disguised as the Atlanta Regional Transportation Referendum for a new 1% SALES TAX
Please pass this on to everyone you know because it is aimed at everyone in the Atlanta area…
On July 31, 2012, residents across the 10-county Atlanta region including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties, as well as the City of Atlanta have the opportunity to vote on a referendum that would fund $8.5 billion in transportation improvements through a regional one percent sales tax. http://www.atlantaregionalroundtable.com/
The referendum is being touted by several special interest groups, like MAVEN, and the City of Atlanta as a solution to Atlanta’s traffic problems. Supposedly the new sales tax would only last 10 years and then expire, unless extended by the voters. This is similar to what they told us about the GA 400 toll booths, which are still there collecting fares long after the project was paid for.
It is critical that everyone understand what they are really voting for or against. It is crystal clear from examining MARTA’s 2010 and 2011 “Annual Report” that MARTA is broke and going under. The situation is so bad that they do not even include any financial statements, like a Balance Sheet or Cash Flow Statement in their Annual Reports. It is just page after page of why MARTA is good. MARTA already gets 60% of its revenue from sales taxes, not from ridership which is hardly growing and will decline if fares are increased. Now they need to make up the rest of their $300M per year shortfall on the backs of the neighboring counties.
From MARTA’s 2011 “Annual Report”, page 37:
http://www.itsmarta.com/uploadedFiles/About_MARTA/Reports/PAFR_2011%20final.pdf
This chart shows MARTA’s two primary revenues trended over the past ten fiscal years. MARTA’s two largest revenue sources are Sales Tax and Fare Revenue. The two combined make up 82% or $436 M of total revenue. Sales Tax provides 60% of MARTA’s total revenue and Fare Revenue provides 22% of the total. MARTA’s Sales Tax revenue comes from a 1% sales tax levied in the City of Atlanta and the Counties of Fulton and DeKalb.
Revenue comes in at $436M while expenses top $727M (page 39). Fourth grade math tells you that Marta is going broke and fast. Now they need yet another sales tax for revenue.
The coming TIA Transportation Referendum started as a $27B money grab and was whittled down to an $8.5B pile of pork with half the revenue for failing MARTA. It has pork for votes for the outlying counties, but they will pay the price several times over. Examples are a bridge at Lake Allatoona and sidewalks in Lawrenceville. These projects will supposedly help alleviate Atlanta’s traffic flow. The proponents talk about how the projects will create jobs and provide a 4:1 return on “investment”. This is another obvious bailout and redistribution of personal income.
So, it is up to each of us to decide on July 31 if we will join the City of Atlanta, Fulton, and DeKalb counties in funding MARTA in perpetuity, because MARTA will never be self-sustaining. MARTA will never be solvent because we would need at least five times as many riders just to break even. We would need to increase the number of people per acre inside I-285 by an order of magnitude to get the needed ridership.
In other words, Atlanta must become another New York, which is what Atlanta elected officials desire.
So, I urge you to pass this on and get out the vote on July 31, 2012.