The Cumberland Community Improvement District board approved another $50,000 for voter education about Cobb County’s proposed sales-tax renewal at its Thursday, Oct. 22, meeting.
The payment to the Cobb Business Alliance brings the district’s commitment this election cycle to $125,000, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.
Alliance Chair Greg Teague said the additional money would support digital advertisements and text messages explaining the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST.
The Nov. 3 referendum asks voters to continue the existing 1% sales tax for another six years. If approved, renewed collections would run from Jan. 1, 2028, through Dec. 31, 2033, according to the county’s project booklet.
Revenue would support capital projects such as road resurfacing, parks, public safety facilities and government buildings. The proposed program includes $4.9 million for the Cumberland Sweep.
Cumberland CID Executive Director Kim Menefee told the Journal that SPLOST supports transportation and revitalization projects important to the district. She said losing that revenue would put greater pressure on property taxes to fund capital needs.
Publicly funded outreach must remain informational rather than tell residents how to vote. The Town Center CID has also committed $50,000 to the alliance’s education effort this cycle, the Journal reported.
The board separately approved additional planning and engineering spending for the Cumberland Sweep and New Day Palisades.
Kimley-Horn will receive another $30,000 for Sweep engineering, increasing its contract from $60,000 to $90,000. Megan Will, the CID’s director of planning and projects, said the adjustment covers additional work, according to the Journal. The Sweep is planned as a three-mile network connecting walking, cycling and shuttle transportation within Cumberland.
For New Day Palisades, the board approved $70,500 to extend planning work and develop interpretive signs for the project’s second phase. Will said the National Park Service approved including educational signage, a donor wall and park branding. Separate funds remaining from the first phase would cover sign construction, the Journal reported.
The $15.8 million rehabilitation of Paces Mill is a partnership involving One Cumberland, the CID and the National Park Service. It includes improvements to river access and visitor facilities within the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
Phase one is complete. The project website’s updated summary lists phase-two construction for fall 2027. The Journal reported that a federal government shutdown in October 2025 disrupted planning and contributed to the delay.
