Voters Asked to Continue Municipal Option Sales Tax for Sewer Work

Atlanta City Councilwoman Felicia Moore told NPU-C Tuesday night that if a 1-cent sales tax for sewer improvements is not continued, residents could face an increase in water bills.

Moore, whose 9th district covers part of Buckhead, said a referendum to continue the MOST, or municipal option sales tax, will be on the ballot March 6 along with the GOP presidential primary.

The 1-cent tax is funding bonds for sewer and stormwater improvements under federal constent decrees to prevent hazardous discharges into the Chattahoochee River. Along with the sales tax, the bonds for improvements are financed with a series of water rate increases that reached 12.5 percent with the final one in July.

If the tax is not continued, new water and sewer increases might be needed, Moore said in response to questions.

"We have to pay the bonds, we will have to find a way to fund it," Moore said. "The most likely source would be the water and sewer rates. We already pay the highest water and sewer rates in the country and have been for some time."

City Department of Watershed Management representative Benita Joseph, in an appearance at the NPU meeting, also called for support of continuing the tax. According to information on the deparment's web site, analysts say the water and sewer rates might have to be increased by 30 percent if the tax is not continued. The proposal calls for the tax's renewal for four years.

Moore said that the city's property taxes cannot be increased to pay for the bonds. The sales tax is paid by visitors coming into the city as well as residents, she said.

The councilwoman said that city revenues continue to go down, while the demand for services increases. Now chairperson of the city council's Finance Committee, Moore said "there will be a gap, which we will try to fill."

Giving a report on the Perry/Bolton tax allocation district, Moore said the council Monday approved a financing plan for a special tax that will allow the TAD to go to the bond market. The TAD seeks to extend Moores Mill Road past Bolton Road and rebuild the Moores Mill shopping center. Already, a CVS and Bank of America is committed to the shopping area, she said, and a Publix shopping center is still sought.

"Publix is still in the game and ready to move," she said. "They've been waiting for several years." Now, with the project advancing, she said she's hopeful that Publix will come into the shopping center.