Cobb County (Georgia) district cancels plans for $50 million event center
The Cobb County (Georgia) school board has canceled plans to build a $50 million event center.
11Alive News reports that the board voted unanimously to back Superintendent Chris Ragsdale's recommendation to discontinue the project.
The move is intended to be an "extra safeguard to the budget during a time of national economic uncertainty," according to a district news release.
Ragsdale explained it as an effort to continue accomplishing fiscal goals set by the board "to provide the best academic results at the cheapest cost for taxpayers and to prioritize people, not programs or facilities."
“The economy has changed a lot in the last two years, and our financial decisions have to change with it,” Ragsdale said. “For the last five years, as we have been planning for the multipurpose center, the economy across the country was growing. Fast forward to the middle of 2024, and the economy has slowed to a crawl.”
The event center proposal has been controversial among segments of the Cobb County population because of its cost and worries about increased taxes. Others argued it was unnecessary and felt there was a lack of clarity about the plans surrounding the project.
