The Rice Report
What's Happening
Tune in to Facebook/the Rice Report Show
streaming live Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30pm

Below are highlights from the Rice Report show of Monday, 8/26/19.
Topic:
To the DeKalb BOC - What we Want from MARTA!
BACKGROUND
  • The original MARTA Agreement signed in September, 1971 was supposed to be effective for 50 years.
  • The voters of Fulton County, DeKalb County and the City of Atlanta agreed to pay 1% sales tax to pay for MARTA by approving a referendum in 1971.
  • After 10 years, the 1% sales tax was supposed to be reduced to ½ of 1%.
  • The expiration of this agreement was supposed to be midnight, August 31, 2021.
  • For 43 years, only residents of Fulton County, DeKalb County and the City of Atlanta funded MARTA but many other counties’ residents used its rail. In 2014, Clayton County became the 3rd county to agree to support MARTA.
SUMMARY: FOR MANY YEARS, WE FUNDED A METRO TRANSIT RAIL SYSTEM USED BY OTHERS BUT SUPPORTED ONLY BY FULTON AND DEKALB COUNTY. IT'S LIKE HAVING A HOUSE WHERE 28 PEOPLE LIVE BUT ONLY YOU AND SOMEONE ELSE ARE PAYING FOR IT.

Email theRiceReport4u@gmail.com for copies of the MARTA agreements

UPDATE
  • With approval by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners, the sales tax paid by DeKalb voters remained at 1% instead of decreasing to 1/2 of 1%.
  • With approval by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners, the expiration date of the 1% sales tax got extended from 2021 to 2047 (26 more years)
  • Without a vote by the taxpayers, the terms of our MARTA Agreement were changed with approval by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners to keep us paying sales tax at a higher rate and for a longer period of time.
  • DeKalb County now has the third highest sales tax rate (8%) in the state of Georgia compared to neighbors Gwinnett and Cobb at 6%.
SUMMARY: WE PAY FULLY FOR MARTA RAIL WHILE OTHERS USE IT. AND WE ARE PAYING AT A HIGHER RATE AND FOR A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME THAN WHAT WAS IN THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT WE APPROVED. IT'S AS IF YOU SIGNED A MORTGAGE TO PAY 30 YEARS FOR YOUR HOUSE BUT WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT, SOMEONE CHANGED YOUR MORTGAGE TO 50 YEARS AND AT A HIGHER RATE.
WHAT WE WANT (as put forth by The Rice Report)

1.      We want the DeKalb part of the agreement with MARTA re-negotiated so that our sales tax remains at 1% for 10 years and 50% of all sales tax revenue is set aside for rail in DeKalb County.
  • Clayton County’s MARTA agreement sets aside part of their sales tax funding for rail in Clayton County (which their voters approved)
  • The Gwinnett County MARTA agreement had a set-aside for rail
  • As long paying supporters, we deserve a contract with the best terms.
2.      We want rail on the southern side of DeKalb County - from the City of Atlanta to Stonecrest . 
3.      We want the ATL (the new regional transit board) to ask its 13 county regional board to assume some of the costs of MARTA so that DeKalb is not unfairly assuming the burden of MARTA maintenance and operations while others use the system.

‌