Cobb County voters passed a 1 percent sales tax extension to benefit the county and city of Marietta schools Tuesday.
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, 57 percent of voters said yes to the measure, which is expected to raise $773 million for capital improvements.
In Cobb, school officials plan to replace five facilities — including Walton and Osborne high schools — repair several others and build a $29 million career academy. Marietta school officials said they will use the expected $55 million in revenue to retire debt, renovate Marietta High School’s football field, upgrade several facilities and enhance technology.
“This is good for all of the citizens in Cobb County,” said Walter Moon, a local minister who voted for the special purpose local option sales tax, or SPLOST. “We need a good education system and (SPLOST) is an all-around good way to build one.”
But critics say the plan lacks detail, is full of “cosmetic” projects that are outside the purview of a SPLOST, and doesn’t reflect the district’s needs.
“There are way too many pork projects in it,” said Donna Currier, who voted against the measure. “My friend, who is a teacher, said the district doesn’t use the money it has wisely. And then they built that huge Lassiter (High School) theater and placed artificial turf on practice fields. That’s a waste of money.”
Despite a rash of anti-tax fever in recent years, the special election — which cost the county $300,000 — appears to have yielded the desired result for school officials.
Supporters said the sales tax extension is desperately needed in times of deep budget cuts for public education. Generating money for capital projects through a sales tax rather than bonds, they say, spreads the financial burden among homeowners, the business community and visitors to the county.
“As we head into an extremely difficult period with our operating budget, [Tuesday’s] vote will provide reassurance that SPLOST is there to take care of our capital needs,” said Cobb Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.
In the coming weeks, the Cobb school board is set to debate ways to fill an expected $80 million budget deficit.
The heavily Republican county is one of a handful in the state where a SPLOST for schools has failed. And homeowners in the county who are 62 and over are exempt from paying school taxes.
In 2011, a four-year extension of a SPLOST for parks, recreation and road renovations in the county passed by a mere 79 votes.
In July of last year, nearly 69 percent of Cobb’s voters struck down the 1 percent regional transportation SPLOST that would have funded road and mass transit projects across 10 counties.
But the last sales tax measure for schools in Cobb and Marietta, held in 2008, passed with 60 percent of the vote.
Some opponents of the SPLOST have been critical of the district holding special elections, where fewer than 10 percent of the county’s 420,000 eligible voters come to the polls. About 40,000 voters cast ballots Tuesday.
The SPLOST option was provided in 1996 to school districts as a way to fund capital projects. Of the 562 education tax referendums held statewide since 1996, 94 percent have been approved by voters, a 2012 study found.
In other metro Atlanta races where special elections were held Tuesday, voters in Forest Park in Clayton County will return to the polls April 16 to decide the winner in a runoff for the mayor’s race. Sparkle Adams, the former mayor pro tem, will face attorney David Lockhart in that race.
Businessman Thomas “Tommy” Smith Jr. is the new councilman for Ward 1. He defeated homemaker Kimberly James.
In Decatur, the race between Greg Coleson and Scott Drake for the District 1 Post B city commission seat appeared too close to call late Tuesday. The winner of this election will fill William Floyd’s unexpired term. Floyd, who was elected mayor by his fellow commission members, resigned his seat in December.
With all four precincts reporting, less than 20 votes separated the candidates. Provisional ballots were not included in that tally, according to results on the Georgia secretary of state’s website.
About the Author
