Voters consider parks, taxes, roads

By Mary Lou Pickel

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Marietta residents voted Tuesday to tax themselves and spend millions on parks.

Voters approved a $25 million parks bond issue with 53 percent of the vote.

"I'm very, very pleased the people saw the need to invest in our city," said Marietta City Council member Holly Walquist.

Walquist lost her bid for re-election Tuesday night.

Outgoing Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway also supported the referendum.

"I'm very glad that Marietta is going to have a bright future for their parks,"  Dunaway said. "I hope the new mayor and city council will spend it wisely."

The city would spend about $5 million to buy park land and $11 million to fix 20 existing parks. The rest would be used for trails, green space, design, planning and administration.

The city's bond issue would raise taxes approximately $50 per year on a $200,000 home for the next 20 years.

Voters elsewhere frowned upon more taxes.

In Alpharetta, 93 percent of voters supported giving themselves a break on city property taxes. Voters passed a measure to increase the homestead exemption from $30,000 to $40,000. The tax break won't apply to school board or county taxes. The owner of a $200,000 house could see an average tax decrease of $42.15, city administrator Bob Regus said.

Fayette County voters overwhelmingly rejected a penny sales tax that would have raised $137 million for road and bridge improvements and retired debt on the county's justice center and jail.

Snellville residents rejected creating tax allocation districts as a way to improve economic conditions in depressed areas.

And in Stone Mountain, residents voted 59 percent in favor of changing  the city's charter to make the city manager the chief executive officer who reports to the city council. The city will still have a mayor but that position will have less power.