MDJ's Bill Kinney asks if bond will pass

From the Marietta Daily Journal's Around Town column on Saturday, November 4, 2006, by MDJ associate editor Bill Kinney

Will parks bond pass Tuesday?

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS for Tuesday's referendum vote on a $40 million bond issue to finance the purchase of land for future Cobb parks? The measure should pass. It's a proposal that will have next to no impact on taxpayers' wallets and will meet a need for more parkland. Spearheading the parks push has been Paul Paulson, head of the Cobb Parks Coalition.

"No one working for our group sees passage of this bond referendum as a given, said Paulson, adding "We know that our message has failed to reach many people."

Backers of the bond say that if the county fails to act and pass the referendum, there will be no vacant land left to buy for parks if the county has to wait another five or 10 years. There seems to be no organized opposition. Passage would relieve overcrowding at existing parks and at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, which drew more than 1.5 million visitors last year, primarily for recreational uses.

The measure could wind up a victim of its timing, of being held in conjunction with a general election rather than as a one-item special election. Special elections usually draw far fewer voters and are easier to manipulate by generating high turnout among selected constituencies. But they're also costly to run, one reason the county commission scheduled the parks vote for a general election, and the fact that a parks bond would seem to be a no-brainer regardless of when it takes place.

Last year's referendum on a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for transportation/jail/courthouse improvements was a standalone election and passed by only 114 votes of 39,771 cast, and was far more controversial than the parks bond has been.

This year's bond question also is unfortunate in that it is the last one on the ballot, when many voters aren't paying much attention.

Cobb voters have been fickle about parks-and-rec referendums. They turned down a $148 million SPLOST for parks on Nov. 7, 2000. The measure would have included $45 million for parkland acquisition. Just think how much parkland could have been acquired with $45 million at 2000 prices.

Voters also turned thumbs down on a $12.8 million general obligation bond in 1993 that would have financed improvements to the county's softball complex in west Cobb in order to host the women's softball competition in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Voters in 1989 rejected a $25 million G.O. bond for recreation.

The county has passed five parks/recreation bonds. The first was in 1965 for $900,000. Next was a $5.25 million bond in 1972, followed by a $3 million bond in 1977. Voters got more generous after that, approving a $21.6 million bond in 1986 and a $30 million bond in 1996. In addition, the county recreation authority passed revenue bonds on three occasions: $1 million in 1958, $1.12 million in 1989 and $7.12 million in 1992.

This year's bond proposal has the full support of all five commissioners and its proceeds will be spent across the county, not just in less-developed west Cobb where there are more and bigger open tracts available.

"Forty million dollars is really not enough at this most urgent juncture," Paulson said. "The Cobb Parks Coalition has been encouraged by national conservation groups that once a local community makes a statement about saving some greenspace through its taxing ability, there is increased opportunity for private foundations and even federal funds to come available. That $40 million could be boosted.

"It may be close, but, I'm betting the farm it will fly," Paulson said. "What's more important? Saving an average $11 a year for 10 years in taxes or permanently protecting maybe 400 acres for your children and theirs? With less than 10 percent of Cobb left unused and development proceeding at a rate of seven acres a day, says a University of Georgia study, we are the last generation privileged to have this choice."