Politics & Government

Lee on State of the County: 'We're Doing More with Less'

Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee talked declining property values, SPLOST and proactive approaches to job creation in his State of the County address.

Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee laid out the economic issues now facing the county, like declining property values and job growth, in his State of the County address to about 300 people at the Cobb Chamber’s First Monday breakfast. He also outlined the strategies that government officials, in partnership with business and community leaders, have developed to face these issues.

He said that 2010 was “a year of transition," and he addressed the declining property values of homes, proactive approaches to job and business growth and how the county’s one-cent special sales tax, SPLOST, has helped the county complete various improvement projects.

Lee said that 295 of the 305 projects included in the 2005 SPLOST had been completed or are being completed, including the new county superior courthouse, which was finished in December. All the projects were paid for in cash, he said, and with a “30 percent discount,” since about 30 percent of the SPLOST taxes is paid by people who do not live within Cobb County.

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Without SPLOST revenues, “our competitive posture would not be as strong,” he said.

Although “2010 was a tough year,” the county still saw a $33,000 surplus in its General Fund and did not dip into its $23 million reserve fund, which he said is to be used for God-given circumstances, and the current “economic conditions are man-made.”

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Lee said they made some cuts in the budget to make it more balanced, such as the budget for the 2009 fiscal year by $25 million and the 2010 fiscal year budget by $8 million.

“We’re doing more with less,” he said.

Lee said that more than half of the county’s revenue comes from property taxes and property values continue to decline.

“Moving forward will require more shared sacrifices,” he said.

However, Lee also pointed out that Cobb County has the lowest tax rate in the Metro Atlanta region and the lowest sales tax rates of adjacent counties (DeKalb, Fulton, Paulding) and the county has not increased the millage rate since 1990, he said.

Using information from Dr. Roger Tutterow, an economist at Mercer University, Lee said the county may continue to see decreases in home property values until about 2013, which is also when the job market is expected to return to the state it was in before the downturn.

“We’re going to plan for the worst because it’s the conservative thing to do,” Lee said.

Being fiscally conservative is one reason why Cobb County is one of 37 counties in the U.S. to earn its AAA bond-rating from the top three rating agencies in the nation, Lee said.

Through partnerships with the business community, members of academia, city and county government officials, Lee said the county will proactively approach the tough issues of job creation and business growth in this current economic climate.

The four main focuses of proactive job and business growth for Cobb County, Lee said, are retaining businesses, expanding companies, recruiting new jobs and expanding tourism.

A little more than 1,600 jobs are being created or are being brought to Cobb County with the expansion of current businesses and the implantation of others, such as CCH Small Firm Services. The accounting and tax software company is moving its headquarters to Kennesaw and bringing about 200 jobs over the next year and a half, Lee said.

Although Cobb County continues to make strides in economic development, Lee repeated throughout the address, “we’ve still got a long way to go.”

 “Two-thousand ten was tough. Two-thousand eleven will be tough. I want to assure you…the future for Cobb County is bright,” Lee said.

To watch the full State of the County address, visit cobbcounty.org/tv23 Tuesday. The State of the County address will also be played on TV23 at 7 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, 8 a.m. on Thursday, 8 a.m. and noon on Friday, noon on Saturday and Sunday and at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Feb. 14.


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