Cobb County staff: $643 million general fund and ongoing talks with Mableton over revenue split

A county staff member said Cobb County's general fund was budgeted at $643,000,000 this year and that it pays for public safety, the sheriff's office, the court system, parks, libraries and senior services. The staff member said property taxes generated $397,000,000 and that the remaining roughly $245,000,000 came from a range of other revenue sources.

The staff member said the two largest components of those other revenues are the tax on vehicle title transfers known as TAVT and the insurance premium tax, which is levied on insurance policies. The presentation said that, by law, the city of Mableton is allowed to retain those two revenue streams and some smaller ones to operate the city, which reduces the pool of county revenues available to pay for county services for residents inside Mableton if those residents continue to receive county police and transportation services.

County staff and Mableton city officials are negotiating how to “level the playing field,” the staff member said, so taxpayers in unincorporated Cobb County and in the city of Mableton are treated consistently. No formal action or vote was reported during the presentation; the item was described as an explanatory briefing and part of ongoing intergovernmental discussions.

The staff member noted that some homeowners and business owners assume property taxes make up the entire general fund, but the county’s budget relies on multiple revenue sources. Specific dollar amounts for TAVT and the insurance premium tax were not provided in the presentation, and the staff member characterized the $245,000,000 remainder as an approximate figure.

Negotiations between the county and Mableton, as described in the briefing, aim to address how retained revenues and continuing county service provision interact; the briefing did not report any agreement, timetable or formal directive emerging from the meeting.