New Clayton Commissioners Support MARTA Referendum
Transit advocates are pushing for Clayton County to become the first county other than Fulton and DeKalb to help pay for MARTA. They’re getting a boost with the election of two new county commissioners.
Since metro Atlanta’s T-SPLOST was defeated in July, the Sierra Club, Citizens for Progressive Transit, Friends of Clayton Transit, and others have lobbied for a MARTA referendum in Clayton as early as November.
Former police chief Jeff Turner, who last week beat Clayton’s incumbent county chairman in a runoff, is urging the same.
“I am a supporter of [a referedum] and I definitely would like to see that placed on the agenda,” says Turner.
A majority of Clayton’s five commissioners would need to okay the referendum. County voters could then decide whether they want to pay the one percent MARTA sales tax.
Newly-elected Shana Rooks, who also unseated an incumbent, supports putting it before voters.
“People lost their jobs because of transit being terminated in Clayton County so when it becomes an economic issue and a jobs issue, I’m definitely for transportation,” says Rooks.
She pointed to a 2010 referendum in which Clayton voters overwhelmingly supported a sales tax increase for public transit. The vote came shortly after the county’s bus service was shut down due to budget cuts. Nearly 70 percent supported a new tax, but the vote was nonbinding, and no further action was taken.
In speaking out for a binding MARTA referendum, Turner and Rooks stand in contrast to the commissioners they replace in January.
Outgoing chairman Eldrin Bell said he would remain opposed to a referendum while in office. He said if the county joined MARTA, Clayton would lack control over how the sales tax is spent.
“Clayton County would be subsidizing the rest of MARTA,” said Bell.
MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris says Clayton would have a voice. He says the MARTA board would be required to expand from 11 voting members to 13, with two seats going to Clayton. That’s compared to four seats for DeKalb, and three each for Fulton and Atlanta.
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