Picking a Republican presidential candidate will be the main draw at the polls March 6, but voters will make other decisions that day affecting sales taxes, property taxes, education and even shopping convenience.
Some of the area's largest cities and counties have yes/no questions tacked to primary ballots. They are:
MORE SUNDAY SALES? At least 11 metro area jurisdictions will be part of the state's second wave of Sunday package sales referendums, deciding whether stores can sell beer, wine and liquor for takeout seven days per week.
Voting: Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth, Gwinnett and Henry counties, and the cities of Austell, Buford, Cumming, Lovejoy, Marietta and Powder Springs
At stake: With the religious opposition having called it quits after voters overwhelmingly said yes in November referendums, legalized Sunday sales is expected to continue spreading over the metro area like Kahlua over ice. Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth and Henry counties could end up entirely wet on Sunday sales.
"Over time, you'll see the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle begin to fill in," said Jay Hibbard, vice president of government relations for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
CONTINUE ATLANTA'S M.O.S.T. TAX? Atlanta voters will decide whether to continue a 1-cent "municipal option sales tax" to fund water and sewer projects.
At stake: If the tax fails, water and sewer rates could increase 25 percent to 30 percent over the next four years to pay for projects required by a federal consent decree, according to the city's Department of Watershed Management.
The city’s rates are already among the highest in the country. On the other hand, the city's sales tax rate is currently 8 cents per dollar, and if voters in 10 counties approve a metrowide transportation tax later this year, adding another penny, Atlanta could have one of the nation's highest sales taxes.
A yes vote would extend the M.O.S.T. an additional four years. In that span, the tax would raise between $400 million and $440 million, according to the city’s estimates. The Department of Watershed Management says it needs the revenue to maintain and upgrade the city’s water and sewer infrastructure, including about $478 million budgeted to fix leaks and make other upgrades required by state and federal regulators.
ANOTHER MARIETTA SCHOOL BOND? The Marietta school system wants voters to agree to issue a five-year, $7.145 million general obligation bond to help fund a new $8.9 million performance auditorium at Marietta High School.
At stake: Voters will essentially be deciding between lowering taxes or keeping them the same, at least initially. In the first two years, the extra tax rate to pay off the debt would be identical to the rate for an older school bond expiring this year, which equates to $95 on a $200,000 home.
If voters approve extending Marietta's education penny sales tax next year, the bond tax rate would go away. If not, the bond tax would go up an additional $11 on a $200,000 home starting in 2015, along with more added taxes to pay off other debts now being covered by sales tax proceeds, school system spokesman Thomas Algarin said.
The $57 million high school was supposed to have been built with a performance center a decade ago, but plans were scrapped amid cost overruns.
The Cobb Taxpayers Association opposes the school bond on grounds that city taxpayers were hit with a 14 percent tax rate increase by Cobb County last year and just started paying off a $25 million parks bond to the tune of about $60 extra on a $200,000 home.
"Now is not the time," said Brett Bittner, the association's vice president. "This is something that should have been done when the school was built initially."
Staff Writer Jeremiah McWilliams and freelancer Tucker McQueen contributed to this article.
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