Cobb County, seven cities begin planning next SPLOST; project list targeted for 2026 ballot
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Summary
Cobb County and representatives from each of its seven cities met to begin drafting a project list for a potential six-year renewal of the countywide Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), which officials said would need a finalized list to place the question before voters in November 2026.
Cobb County officials and representatives from the county’s seven cities met to begin drafting a project list needed to renew the countywide Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, for an additional six years and place it before voters in November 2026, Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said.
SPLOST is a 1% local sales tax used to fund capital projects, officials said, including courthouses, community centers, parks, libraries and large transportation projects. “It allows us to build your community, whether that's in building horizontally and making sure your roads are taken care of or building wonderful assets for you to enjoy, like our parks and recreation facilities and our libraries and even our, justice and court system,” Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said at the meeting.
Officials said the tax spreads the cost of major projects across people who shop, visit or travel through the county rather than relying solely on property taxes. Meeting participants discussed the need to produce a specific project list and meet intergovernmental milestones so the measure can appear on the November 2026 ballot.
A speaker representing one of the smaller Cobb cities told the meeting that SPLOST provides capital improvement funding that the jurisdiction’s operating budget cannot support. “SPLOST to our community is actually capital improvement. We are a small community with a small budget, the smallest in the county,” that speaker said, adding that SPLOST has supported public safety, parks and recreation and other local facilities over multiple SPLOST cycles.
Participants also emphasized public education about SPLOST’s purpose, who pays the tax and what projects the revenue would fund if the renewal is placed before voters. No formal vote or final project list was announced at the meeting; officials described the session as the start of a collaborative planning process among the county and its cities.
For background and past project lists, officials directed residents to the county SPLOST webpage: cobbcounty.gov/splost.
