3/4: Water MOST important
By the AJC Editorial Board
We can pay now. Or we can pay now. That’s no misprint; rather, it’s an accurate summation of the no-real-choice scenario facing Atlanta voters Tuesday on the penny sales tax for financing water and sewer system improvements that benefit 1.2 million people in this metro area.
In our view, city residents would best serve their interests by voting “yes” for the Municipal Option Sales Tax. Their affirmative vote will even benefit, indirectly, the best interests of the broader region and state, we’d argue.
No service is more essential to the modern common good than providing clean water and effective sewerage service to the populace at large. Read the rest of what the AJC Editorial Board has to say, along with commentaries by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and City Councilman Michael Julian Bond.
Then, tell us what you think.
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21 comments Add your comment
SAWB
March 2nd, 2012
7:40 pm
The residents of Atlanta should vote yes and take responsibility for all the incompetent politicians they have elected over the last 45 years. The basic responsibility of a local government is to provide adequate emergency services and infrastructure it is obvious they have done neither. The Democrat Party has done a terrible job of running Atlanta, but I bet their clueless constituents will just keep electing them.
roger
March 2nd, 2012
10:34 pm
How can the water customers and taxpayers guarantee that the money would be spent as it should be ? Where does it end ? Atlanta already has some of the highest rates in the nation. We also have huge sales tax. There seems to be no accountability in city government. It may be time to form a water and sewer authority . Authorities are not perfect, but they seem to do a better job than city or county government.
vuduchld
March 3rd, 2012
12:14 am
Why in the world would Jawja citizens give more money to mentally retarded nincompoops. I say fire the idiots currently living off the state in the Jawja dome before people give up one penny. You didots love throwing good money after bad don’t you.
RIG
March 3rd, 2012
7:57 am
This is what happens when voters elect politicians from the Democrat Party that choose to kick the can down the road for someone else to handle/pay later. Voters that can’t determine which politicians would do the right thing! Voters who think that someone else will pick up the tab (maybe the federal government). Voters that are looking for their next entitlement or freebie! Those that want to run up debt on the city credit card. Ultimately, those who will be voting for Obama in the next election.
Jm
March 3rd, 2012
8:13 am
Vote no. If you believe in tying the fees to the costs, like any sensible business, it is better to pay for the sewer through your water bill than through sales taxes.
There are downsides obviously. But perhaps Atlanta should have thought of that a decade and $4 Billion ago.
Jm
March 3rd, 2012
8:18 am
Atlanta’s sales tax, frankly, is crazy high. Vote no. Put the screws to the water department and they may be more judicious about spending money. Emphasis on “may”.
Kentavious
March 3rd, 2012
11:21 am
OK I read the AJC editorial board piece, as instructed, and noted the following comment:
“Also, Atlanta’s water customers have seen multiple rate hikes in recent years. As a result, city water charges are, giving the widest possible benefit of the doubt, among the highest in the nation. Arguably, Atlanta’s charges for water use are the steepest found among major U.S. cities.”
If we’re already among the most expensive cities it makes little sense to give the politicians even more money to squander. So my vote will be no.
Corey
March 3rd, 2012
11:37 am
Currently paying a 1 cent sales tax, and continuing to pay it rather than watching water and sewer rates spike significantly should be a no brainer. IT ISN’T A NEW TAX, good citizens of Kennesaw! An aging, crumbling infrastructure is not unique to Atlanta. NY, Chicago and just about ever other major city are experiencing the same issues. Fast forward one hundred years, and the burbs will be faced with the same problems. Aging infrastructure has nothing to do with political ideology. Could management in the watershed management dept. do a better job? Absolutely. Central city cores such as Atlanta on any given day host thousand of people who do not live in the city but either work or play there, and that puts more wear and tear on the infrastructure. The next time you go to a Braves, Falcons or Hawks game or the circus or any other major event in the city and have to use the bathroom or drink water please remember we mooochers are paying for that. The next time you are in the city and rely on the police to direct traffic so you can take a direct, flowing route to Philips Arena or the Georgia Dome or Turner Field we moochers are paying for that. The next time you drive to Doraville MARTA station, North Springs station, Lindberg station or College Park station and hop on a MARTA train to get to a sporting event or a concert we moochers are paying a 1 cent tax for that. STFU already!
Jeff on on Outside
March 3rd, 2012
12:29 pm
Atlanta’s leadership looks like Birminham’s in many ways. Atlanta has tended to incompetent-evil leadership while our sister city to the west has been mostly incompetent-stupid. Frankly, Reed is a breath of fresh air in a long line of rancid leadership in both the city and in Fulton County. Still, the water infrastructure needs to be maintained. It must be paid for either in sales tax or in fees.
jack berlin
March 3rd, 2012
5:47 pm
4 years ago we were told that it would hold our water rates down to pass the MOST. So, we did, and our water bills doubled !! (Usuage the same). Now, 4 yrs later and the threat of higher rates is being made to get an additional 4 yrs of MOST–while the price of the overhaul has gone from $2 billion to $4 billion and most of the streets are rough as a gravel road where they have been dug up, except for a few major streets. What is the finish date for this money eater???What is the finish price going to be ???
Ricardo
March 3rd, 2012
8:26 pm
Hell….Atlanta cannot even pay the fines imposed on them for dumping raw sewage in our beloved Hooch… No other city in the world would be allowed to escape the fines as well as just plain ignoring the laws concerning water treatment and the lack of it by Atlanta’s great leaders. But what can one expect from a bunch of Gimmee’ Gimmee’ elected black officials who does not give a damn about existing rules and regulations.
surly jb
March 3rd, 2012
9:41 pm
The only discernible difference between MARTA and other corrupt, decaying transit systems is that MARTA has decimated its security staff (so like no wonder there are no reports of crimes), and continued the Blacklanta Government Initiative of wasting tax dollars to go to Vegas and the Caribbean, or awarding concessions contracts at the airport to everybody’s baby’s daddy without competitive bidding…………….it ain’t about being black or white, it’s about getting shot with a glock, ok?
Kev
March 3rd, 2012
11:10 pm
“This is what happens when voters elect politicians from the Democrat Party that choose to kick the can down the road for someone else to handle/pay later.”
The old “Dixiecrats” are now the heart of the Republican party. After LBJ and the Congress passed the civil rights bills they flooded over to the Republican party.
We’re paying for their narrow minded actions now as the Right goes to the extreme.
SAWB
March 4th, 2012
12:11 am
“After LBJ and the Congress passed the civil rights bills they flooded over to the Republican party.”
The funny thing is a much larger percentage of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than did Democrats.
Ron mexico
March 4th, 2012
1:20 am
Where is the story about Sanford Bishop peeing in a cup on a Delta flight from Washimgton to Atlanta.
Ron mexico
March 4th, 2012
1:21 am
Where is the story abput Sanford Bishop peeing in a cup on a flight from Washington to Atlanta?
bug
March 4th, 2012
8:27 am
Atlanta to start by repairing the millions of gallons of daily water leaks but that’s not going to happen from NO leadership managers and non producing workers. So the dumb govenment wants to throw more money at the problem.
Chris
March 4th, 2012
9:10 am
The citizens of Atlanta have for decades elected cronies to the various offices in the city. Those officials have been more interested in keeping their jobs and getting their friends jobs than governing. The result, like so many other cities across the country, is crumbling infrastructure and an electorate filled with distrust and reluctance to throw more money down a hole. That electorate certainly deserves the officials they elect and the results those officials have delivered.
Chip
March 4th, 2012
9:53 am
As a suburbanite who virtually never sets foot or wheel in downtown Atlanta, I say H e c k NO to any kind of regional tax for the city’s water system. I’ll also say Corey who posted an earlier rant against suburbanites has a point… but only to a point.
Yes, many suburbanites work in Atlanta, but those numbers have been dropping, and will continue to drop, as more and more companies give up and flee the Third World insanity of Atlanta and relocate to outer areas or other states. Very soon the only suburbanites flushing toilets in the city will be employees of large corporations such as Georgia Pacific, who already pay stupendous amounts of taxes to the city anyway.
Regarding the suburbanites who attend concerts and games at the downtown venues, the answer is simple… charge the rich spoiled celebrities and rich whiny ball players and team owners additional “impact fees” for those events. Of course, the rich people will simply pass that cost to the attendees through higher ticket prices, but we’re talking about the kinds of fools willing to throw away massive amounts of money to worship their false pop gods and ball player “heroes”, along with ridiculously over-priced beer and $50 tee shirts. Let them pay for the additional burden on the city water/sewer system. Don’t try to tell me I have some “social responsibility” to pay for the bungling incompetent management of a crime-infested Third World heck-hole I never visit. (The state and feds are already wasting too many of my tax dollars on the city anyway.)
Sorry, Corey. I have better things to do with my hard-earned dollars that subsidize your poor choice of a hometown.
seabeau
March 5th, 2012
6:30 am
Those on the Dole will allways vote for the Dole!! As long as those who pay NO taxes, are allowed to vote on Raising Your Taxes ,THEY WILL!!!
seabeau
March 5th, 2012
6:34 am
Our state constitution needs to be revamped,stating that only those who pay state taxes can vote on issues concerning taxation. Would be a great federal law also!!