Atlanta and Suburbs to Hold Separate Transportation Sales Tax Votes in November

Thirteen cities in Fulton County, all except for Atlanta, agreed to a three-quarter cent, five-year sales tax measure on July 7. The county's population was over a million in 2015, while Atlanta's was almost 464,000.

"A new state law required all of the entities to agree on the referendum before it could be placed on the ballot," reports Arielle Kass for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "If approved, the tax will provide up to $655 million to spend on transportation needs in the county."

The bulk of the money, just more than a third, would go to congestion relief projects, like road widenings. Other large categories of spending include operations and safety (which includes improving intersections and traffic signals) at 23 percent; maintenance and safety enhancements (like resurfacing roads and repairing guardrails) at 19 percent; and pedestrian and other streetscape improvements (like bike lanes and sidewalks) at 15 percent.

The rest of the money will go toward repairing and replacing bridges, quick projects like filling potholes and managing the projects. A small amount also will go to the Fulton County Airport and to paying down debt.

The parallel tracks of the 13 suburban cities and the county seat and state capital, Atlanta, was termed "micro-regionalism" in a post last April, "A Transportation Schism in the Atlanta Region."

As far as the Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) projects to be funded by the Atlanta measure, "Faye DiMassimo, manager of the Renew Atlanta infrastructure program, said the city council may vote later this month on its own project list," adds Kass.

"The revenue raised by the half-penny tax inside Atlanta would go strictly toward MARTA projects inside the city limits," according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. "Ninety percent of the City of Atlanta is within Fulton County (the other 10% lies within DeKalb County)," per Wikipedia.

While MARTA won't benefit from the county tax measure, there is still hope that the suburbs will support the regional transit system at a future time.

Roswell Mayor Jere Wood "pressed the mayors to meet in the months after the vote to discuss another referendum that would call for a .25-cent sales tax increase to go toward MARTA expansion," adds Krass.