New poll doesn’t bode well for metro Atlanta’s transportation sales tax
Channel 2 Action News is touting a Rosetta Stone poll that shows strong opposition outside Fulton and DeKalb counties to the July 31 transportation sales tax initiative:
The poll found 42 percent support the referendum, while 45 percent oppose it. Thirteen percent remain undecided.
Voters in DeKalb and Fulton counties showed overwhelming support for the tax, by a 52 to 33 percent margin. The numbers are nearly exact opposites in the other eight suburban counties where the measure is opposed by a 20 point margin.
This isn’t what proponents were looking for – not midway through a campaign that has already blanketed voters with direct mail and not a small amount of TV.
We hope to have some cross tabs and methodology to offer you soon.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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119 comments Add your comment
Ready2Drive
May 21st, 2012
10:21 pm
So I guess the options are to either pass the referendum and increase taxes or spend more money on gas and maintenance on my car. Because the latter has definitely been increasing year after year. I just hope we can move in the right direction and do something. I’m against an increase in taxes as much as the next person but when taxes are used to make my life easier then I can go with it.
Restless in Georgia
May 21st, 2012
10:22 pm
@Ready2Drive, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
The Ghost of Edward R. Murrow
May 21st, 2012
10:23 pm
Hmmm…I think this poll was “fixed” by the ad departments of the AJC and other media…must be a slow month for the ad departments….they need more shekels, thus, create the need among the bond lawyers, the politicians, the construction industry lobbyists, and the Ga Dept of Industry Trade and Tourism…for more spending!
Get out the vote – do anything to get a YES vote….except call it what it truly is….a TAX.
SabrinaClarke
May 21st, 2012
10:25 pm
With all the naysayers saying no I wonder what their other option is. Clearly we need something major done. The small attempts at relieving traffic that occurred last week by allowing drivers to use emergency lanes wasn’t enough. It’s clear that we’re going to have to do something major to see results.
MatthewThomas103
May 21st, 2012
10:29 pm
I moved from a state where the transportation infrastructure made your life easier. As a current resident of GA I wouldn’t dare rely on public transportation for all my needs. It amazes my how advanced a city of Atlanta is but yet it is still clearly behind. We gotta do something to make the city more appealing.
BrittanyUnderwwod82
May 21st, 2012
10:31 pm
@Matthew I agree with you. As a former resident of NY, the transportation here in GA doesn’t even compare to other cities. I understand the importance of better transportation and I will definitely be saying yes.
ErinRogers
May 21st, 2012
10:33 pm
I stay outside the Atlanta area, in Rockdale, and I will definitely be voting yes on this. As a commuter who has to drive into the city day after day, I can already see how this will benefit me.
hiram
May 21st, 2012
10:40 pm
Joe_Harris
May 21st, 2012
10:07 pm
“Continue to sit in traffic, continue to visit other cities and see how great their transportation system is compared to ours. C’mon! We gotta do something!”
The issue is not the need. Everyone agrees on the need. The issue is the lack of trust in our elected officials, and the fear that they are more focused on lining their pockets than accomplishing the objective, and it’s not based on conjecture. Their resistance to transparency is a red flag to reasonable people.
td
May 21st, 2012
10:41 pm
Matthew and Brittany,
No one is begging you two to stay in Atlanta. We promise not to miss you if you decide to leave and if you can talk a few more to go with you then the traffic will get a little better.
Look before I leap...
May 21st, 2012
10:46 pm
GA already pays the lowest motor fuel tax rate in the country (7.5c/g).
We could double that and still be in the bottom 33% in the US.
Doubling the fuel tax provides for an additional $900M/year.
Over the projected life of TSPLOST, that equates to more than $9B which is more than TSPLOST would bring in.
Why not let the folks who would directly benefit from the projects pay for them with a greater fuel tax?
LeRoy
May 21st, 2012
10:48 pm
TSPLOST is based on an outdated, outmoded model of a central city where the jobs are with outlying bedroom communities. This no longer reflects the reality or desired reality in metro Atlanta. None of us in the surburban counties shoudl support TSPLOST as its a huge amount of money that won’t really improve our traffic problems.
The folks that picked the projects might have built more support for TSPLOST if they had actually used improving traffic as the key criteria for project selection.
I will be voting NO and encouraging my neighbors to do the same thing.
L Flux
May 21st, 2012
11:11 pm
Build roads with money from people who drive, not from people who shop. This penny represents a huge increase in transportation spending that will fund big expensive projects that will do very little to solve Atlanta’s traffic problems. We need to maintain what we’ve got and let traffic get bad enough that people move closer to work (or work closer to home) so they don’t waste their lives and gasoline in traffic. Increase the gas tax and leave the sales tax alone. And stop borrowing money to build roads.
If more people live in Fulton and Dekalb where the measure has favor and the surrounding counties are basically split, it will still pass. There are still enough undecided voters that this could go either way, but I wouldn’t bet against it.
hiram
May 21st, 2012
11:16 pm
This is all a thinking person needs to know to decide.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/audit-finds-gdot-financial-mismanagement/nK6hh/
td
May 21st, 2012
11:29 pm
Look before I leap…
May 21st, 2012
10:46 pm
Population: 9,815,210
2012 revenue: $18,162,513,870
How much more money do we need to spend in Georgia?
junbug
May 21st, 2012
11:31 pm
If we had a newspaper who would tell the voters the truth about this T-SPLOST it would not stand a chance.
Tell them the counties gets 25% of the tax to use as they desire. I wonder how much of our property tax money they paid lobbist to get that clause into the bill?
Will the last Democrat in Georgia please turn off the lights?.....
May 21st, 2012
11:42 pm
Not only is it the lack of a clear and coherent message that is doing in a T-SPLOST referendum which was at best a 50-50 proposition anyways to begin with.
The failure of the T-SPLOST to gain any traction with Metro Atlantans both Inside and, especially, Outside-The-Perimeter has also been as a result of incompetent, unethical and even at times outright corrupt leadership in both state and local governments around the designated 10-county Atlanta Region.
At the same time that the regional powers-that-be are tepidly pushing this flawed T-SPLOST referendum, the Georgia Legislature is dealing with the escalating fallout from a slate of recent ethics scandals as well as the Legislature’s refusal to enact meaningful ethics reform.
In addition to a very well-organized ultra-strong anti-tax and anti-transit sentiment in Fayette, Cherokee and Henry counties, also having an increasingly negative effect on public support for the T-SPLOST is the continued hangover from the incredibly flawed startup of the I-85 HOT Lanes and the fallout from a slate of recent scandals and missteps by the county Board of Commissioners in heavily-populated suburban Gwinnett (garbage scandal, stadium scandals, shady land deals, endictments of county commissioners, etc), repeated missteps and extremely poor political leadership on transportation and most every other political issue by increasingly unpopular embattled County Commission Chairman Tim Lee in Cobb County, some very expensive unethical missteps by the county government in DeKalb, continuing fierce internal division and political friction revolving around the desire of the affluent North end of the county to split away from the rest of the dysfunctional county and its government in Fulton.
Not to mention continuing ethical concerns in the City of Atlanta and Clayton County, who discontinued their local bus service (C-Tran) not long ago because they did not want to fund and operate the service themselves, but instead wanted a transit-averse state government to do.
The T-SPLOST referendum does not exist in a vacuum. The culmulative effects of these repeated government scandals and missteps has on the public mood towards government on the whole is continuing to have a direct negative effect on the T-SPLOST, which is basically government asking voters to let them have more of their hard-earned money.
If the voters don’t particularly like or trust their government officials to do right by them with their hard-earned money, then they will not give it to a government that they don’t like or trust to spend as they see fit, which is much of what why we are seeing this T-SPLOST campaign fail to gain traction with the public, probably even much moreso than the messaging of the campaign
double
May 22nd, 2012
12:23 am
Matthew & Britney move up to Gilmer county.Good apple country.But does have one rotten apple.No traffic jams,slow pace,mostly good people.
David
May 22nd, 2012
1:48 am
The Chamber of Commerce is for this…..their goal is to help us improve the number one complaint folks have about Atlanta….and get companies to come here!
This will help your city and add value to your homes.
I am a yes
Look before I leap...
May 22nd, 2012
2:04 am
@td
I know the numbers what is the point of your post?
Look before I leap...
May 22nd, 2012
2:09 am
@David
TSPLOST as it stand now will not fix the traffic issues here that are anti-corporate growth.
It will slightly alleviate the the commutes of some people who have chosen to live in the bedroom communities of Atlanta while making EVERYONE pay for it.
That is pure horsesh*t to my way of thinking.
Up the damned gas tax and those who drive, pay.
Quite simple.
Ellis
May 22nd, 2012
3:53 am
I lost trust in GDOT and the powers that be when they squandered an insane amount of money on the HOT lanes that actually made traffic worse for most commuters. I won’t give them any more money for their “improvements.”
Ellis
May 22nd, 2012
4:10 am
It also doesn’t help that GDOT managed to make the “temporary” tax (toll) on GA400 into a permanent fixture. So, we are going to trust them with another temporary tax? I’m thinking I’ll pass.
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
May 22nd, 2012
5:52 am
The decaying sprawl that is the Atlanta SMSA would not have been possible without white flight. White flight was supported by the highway contractors and developers and cheap gasoline. Almost 50 years later, the ‘burbs cling to their Suburbans, their Tahoes, and their pick-em-up trucks and 3-hour-a-day commutes.
Good luck with that for another 50 years, all you Joe the Plumber-types out there outside 286…
LeRoy
May 22nd, 2012
6:39 am
Sounds like more than a little race hatred, bigotry and unfair attacks on people you don’t know. If this is the tone of TSPLOST, you should not expect much cooperation from the non urban counties.
Ga Values
May 22nd, 2012
6:43 am
Vote NO for GRAFT, CORRUPTION & MISMANAGEMENT.
hiram
May 22nd, 2012
7:12 am
David
May 22nd, 2012
1:48 am
“The Chamber of Commerce is for this…..their goal is to help us improve the number one complaint folks have about Atlanta….and get companies to come here!”
You apparently don’t know a lot about the Chamber of Commerce.
Old timer
May 22nd, 2012
7:15 am
I am not willing to give MARTA anymore money to manage. They do badly enough with what they have. Northern suburbs are getting to little for their portion of the money.
Edward Ruffin
May 22nd, 2012
7:19 am
Well, good news for a change, a new and additional tax may fail. Government at all levels is awash with money, if they would only spent it properly we would not be having this discussion.
Ga Values
May 22nd, 2012
7:21 am
Vote NO on WASTE, GRAFT, CORRUPTION & MISMANAGEMENT.
Can’t believe I left out WASTE…just look at the Beltline, payoff to Reed’s supporters just like the airport.
Chris
May 22nd, 2012
7:28 am
Maybe the voters are seeing through the multiple layers of horse hockey served by the chamber of commerce.
The TSPLOST will not improve anyone’s commute. It will improve Gov. Deal and Kasim Reed’s cronies bottom lines, however. Vote NO and send these clowns a message.
honested
May 22nd, 2012
7:50 am
As to the earlier comments about the chamber of commerce.
That their tentacles have been wrapped around this plan from the beginning and they are hawking it now is reason #1 to vote NO.
honested
May 22nd, 2012
7:52 am
Of course, should this disaster pass, it will have a second ‘gotcha’.
When the road and transit plans prove too expensive, nathan will just shift the funds to ruin the Savannah River for good!
At least the most dangerous and ambitious politicians tend to be the most transparent.
Double Zero Eight
May 22nd, 2012
7:58 am
This referendum is more suited for generating
revenue than easing traffic. The Metro Region
should be configured as any county in the Metro
Atlanta area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.
It makes no sense that Rockdale County is inculded,
while Forsyth County is excluded. Forsyth borders
Fulton County, Rockdale County does not. A new
alignment should comprise the counties that represent
the over 5 million residents in what is statistically
considered Metro Atlanta.
I am not a fan of Marta, and only ride it to sporting events.
A new plan should be submitted that includes more rail
initiatives. I remember the DOT’s “Freeing the Freeways”
campaign of the early 1990’s. It did not work as most of you
know. Pouring more concrete for road building is not the
answer. Look no further than GA 400 and 316,
JW
May 22nd, 2012
8:13 am
for all those who vote no, your solution is…where is the pot of gold to pay for your free ride…
4Dees
May 22nd, 2012
8:21 am
To get the TRUE facts about the T-SPLOST (TIA), please go to http://www.traffictruth.net . This is just another boondoggle to take from the many taxpayers to make a few people very wealthy. The one thing that should concern every voter is regional government., i.e. the ARC (Atlanta Regional Commission). I feel these regional commissions are not constitutional, the people are for the most part political appointments, and they are not accountable to the voter. They are meant to eventually replace our local and county governments, and will then begin by ‘appointing’ regional mayors, thus leaving the voter out of the process all together. VOTE NO on July 31.
Ga Values
May 22nd, 2012
8:21 am
JW
May 22nd, 2012
8:13 am
The solution is not to make a pot of gold for the politicians like the recently bid airport contracts.
jd
May 22nd, 2012
8:28 am
There is nothing “conservative” about wasting time and money sitting in traffic, paying for expensive gas, and subsidizing others who would rather drive their Escalades than create efficient transportation systems… And, all transportation systems are subsidized — so don’t even go there
4Dees
May 22nd, 2012
8:29 am
The GDOT is a mess……………….mismanaged, full of crony appointments, etc. Until the GDOT is completely overhauled from stem to stern, then they should not be trusted on anything……..this also includes all of the chambers of commerce who are fully behind the TIA. People DO NOT come to Atlanta for our rail system, but rather, they do come here for our great airport and our suburbs. Adding more taxes will keep businesses away from GA.
MARTA Rida
May 22nd, 2012
8:32 am
Have we not learned that we cannot build more lanes to ease congestion. Expand transit ITP and OTP. The interstate system was not built in a decade, this is step 1 of many to solve our transportation issues. As for a suburb-to-suburb rail line, it will take time. The next round already has this line planned, that’s why phase 1 of the NW line is included in TIA 1. I ride MARTA everyday, so if this does not pass it will not effect me, except I will never travel to Cobb or Gwinnett counties. Hope the suburbs choke on their own congestion and their home prices fall even more.
4Dees
May 22nd, 2012
8:33 am
jd……………..BART (San Francisco’s rail system) is the only profitable one in our country. Atlanta’s density makes it impossible for rail to every work here as it is set up now. Less than 5% of the population uses MARTA, and yet they want the other 95% to pay for more rail that will not be used. Why would I want to pay 2 cents on every dollar I spend to subsidize 5% of the population?
4Dees
May 22nd, 2012
8:35 am
MARTA Rida…………………………….There are better solutions than those presented in the “wish list” known as the TIA (T-SPLOST). The TIA needs to die, and then go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan that will work for Atlanta. It is possible.
gordon
May 22nd, 2012
8:50 am
You people crying about corruption have not been close to this process. There is, in the law, a Citizen’s Oversight Panel that will review expenditures, and track project progress. There are other checks and balances in the program to hedge against things like cost inflation.
It’s eay to sit back and make cracks about corruption and lining contractors pockets. In real life, that is not true. However, it’s easier to say that than to actually come up with something to help this region move forward.
Aside from businesses being attracted to the region due to better infrastructure, there is a direct jobs benefit of the program – something like 40,000 per year, for 10 years. If you haven’t noticed, we are in a free fall recession. Georgia can reverse the trend, put people to work, and have the other benefits that come with people working (like lower overall tax rates and increasing property values).
The average cost is something like $50/person. Don’t forget – businesses and tourists pay sales tax too. Together, they will pay more than residents.
I’m sorry folks. I am as conservative as it gets, but this is a must-pass referendum, for a whole lot of reasons.
Making up conspiracy theories isn’t going to move this region forward.
MiltonMan
May 22nd, 2012
8:53 am
“@Matthew I agree with you. As a former resident of NY, the transportation here in GA doesn’t even compare to other cities. I understand the importance of better transportation and I will definitely be saying yes.”
Never gets old hearing from these expatriates from the northern states who “yearn” for how wonderful & terrific that their previous areas were yet still move here in droves.
BW
May 22nd, 2012
8:54 am
Let’s see….there are some recurrent themes in these posts….fear of waste, fraud, etc, lack of trust of the legislators that we the people vote in, and distrust of public-private collaboration…folks nothing will ever get done under these circumstances. You can’t vote for the most conservative person in your district and then not trust them to execute the task of governance…someone is going to have to explain that disconnect for me. I absolutely agree that this list is wholly inadequate to accommodate all the traffic issues in the region. Given that the legislators fear bringing anything truly comprehensive and therefore progressive in front of the voters, what can we really expect but this highly flawed solution? Do you even trust them to come with a non-partisan plan that will remedy the issues in each county regardless of the final price tag? Look given the provinical nature of politics here in Georgia and throughout the South, this is probably the best any Republican legislature is going to come up with so I have to vote YES to at least get the ball rolling. Perhaps if we hold them accountable for coming up with an adequate list and executing it in a fudiciary matter rather than worrying about being taxed too much or pitting ITP vs OTP, we would actually get something worth signing onto in the near future.
gordon
May 22nd, 2012
8:56 am
4Dees – you are confusing yourself. ARC is not part of the governance for this tax. Two state agenices are responsibel for building the projects – GRTA and GDOT. MARTA is not even given money directly.
Since GA has the nation’s lowest gas tax, you pay things like car tag fees and state income tax to fund road maintenance. Roads are not profitable, not even close. But, you accept the huge taxes imposed to maintain the current system, then complain about transit. That argument is a non-starter.
I paid $900 to register 3 cars after moving here from Florida. Those same cars cost me $100 a year there. And, my cars are all 6-7 years old. I can’t even think of buying a new car here with the current tax structure.
This TSPLOST tax will cost my family less than my stupid car tag fees annually, and will do a heck of a lot more for the region.
Vote YES.
Ga Values
May 22nd, 2012
8:58 am
gordon
May 22nd, 2012
8:50 am
Hadn’t been followling the airport bid process where all of Reed’s Multimillionair cronies got contracts have you. How about the water department? How about our Governor being voted 1 of the most corrupt politicians in Washington? How about MARTA? How about GDOT?
BW
May 22nd, 2012
9:02 am
GA Values
How do these people continue to get elected? Do the voters not care? Is it simply enough to scream liberal or scream conservative and get in office?
Ga Values
May 22nd, 2012
9:02 am
BW
May 22nd, 2012
8:54 am
Did not vote for Reed, did not vote for Deal voted for the honest woman in both cases. Did you vote?
BW
May 22nd, 2012
9:05 am
Sure….I live in Gwinnett so Reed wasn’t on the ballot in my district…actually left the governor box blank….I’m having trouble understanding how we elect people who are completely incompetent to govern.
TBone
May 22nd, 2012
9:09 am
If all the carpetbaggers would return from whence they came there would be not problem here with transportation. This whole SPLOST thing needs to be looked at objectively. It appears to be nothing more than an endless progression of additonal slush funds for local jurisdictions to depend on instead of getting their fiscal houses in order.