Final passage given to bill to extend tax for Dome

By Nancy Badertscher

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The General Assembly has given final approval to legislation aimed at keeping the Atlanta Falcons playing on the Georgia World Congress Center campus in downtown Atlanta.

The bill was amended in the state Senate to allow Macon and Bibb County to increase their hotel/motel tax from 6 percent to 7 percent, putting the proceeds into operating the state's Sports Hall of Fame and Music Hall of Fame. Both facilities in Macon are stripped of state funding in the House version of the 2011 state budget.

Some had expected the provision for Macon to be axed when the bill went back to the House for final approval, but Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) said he would not block it.

“If they choose to lose money, that’s up to them,” Burkhalter said, referring to the halls of fame.

His bill would extend the sunset provision on Atlanta’s hotel/motel tax to 2050, creating a revenue source that could be used to build a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. They currently play at the Georgia Dome, one of the oldest stadiums in the National Football League.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank has hinted that he could move the team from the Dome to the suburbs.

Burkhalter said the Dome is “a moneymaker for this state."

“We ought to be helping our economic engines like that,” he said.