DeKalb sales tax project list decided, with focus on road repairs
The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday on a list of construction projects that would be funded by a proposed sales tax increase, with an emphasis on repairing bumpy roads.
The project list includes $151 million to repave the county's worst roads, nearly $85 million for fire stations and police protection, $82 million on transportation projects and $57 million for infrastructure improvements of parks, libraries and other facilities.
DeKalb voters will decide on the sales tax increase, from 7 percent to 8 percent, in a Nov. 7 referendum. The special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) would raise about $100 million a year, distributed proportionately based on population among unincorporated areas and cities.
The project list approved Tuesday covers a total of $388 million that would be raised from unincorporated DeKalb taxpayers. Another $249 million would go to city governments, which are deciding their own infrastructure project lists this month.
Commissioners voted 5-2 to pass the project list, with Commissioners Nancy Jester and Jeff Rader opposed.
The DeKalb Commission plans to vote to put the sales tax on the ballot next Tuesday.
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- Dispute delays Emory's union with city of Atlanta
- DeKalb tries to allow business growth while reducing sewage spills
- Judges will order DeKalb's ugliest properties to clean up or be torn down
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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.
