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Mayors and DeKalb officials seek deal on raising sales taxes

DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond poses for a group shot with mayors, county commissioners and city officials after their discussion Thursday of DeKalb’s proposed sales tax increase. (Akili-Casundria Ramsess/Special to the AJC)
DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond poses for a group shot with mayors, county commissioners and city officials after their discussion Thursday of DeKalb’s proposed sales tax increase. (Akili-Casundria Ramsess/Special to the AJC)
By Mark Niesse
Sept 1, 2017

Only a few obstacles remain before a DeKalb County sales tax increase can be put on November's ballot, when voters would decide whether to pay more for road repairs, public safety equipment and other infrastructure.

City and county leaders agreed Thursday that they support moving forward with the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST), which would create a $500 million windfall for local governments over the next five years.

But they are still negotiating whether city residents' sales taxes should contribute to fire station repairs and how long the tax would last — five years or six.

A deadline is approaching this month to set a list of projects and put the issue on the ballot. If approved, sales taxes in DeKalb would rise from 7 percent to 8 percent.

Exclusive to subscribers: Read more about the proposed sales tax hike on myAJC.com.

DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond leads the discussion Thursday with mayors, county commissioners and city officials over DeKalb’s proposed sales tax increase. (Akili-Casundria Ramsess/Special to the AJC)
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About the Author

Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.

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