Cherokee TV

Ballot referendum and straw poll questions approved

Tom Brooks
Monday, January 01, 1900

Cherokee County voters approved separate referendum questions on July 15 ballots for freezing homestead exemptions and property value assessments for the county portion of property tax bills at 2007 levels, and for the city portions of the bills for the cities of Holly Springs and Woodstock.

Non-binding straw poll questions were also presented to voters listed along with the elections for local and state offices on the July 15 ballots on both Democratic and Republican ballots.

Supporters of the caps say governments’ tax bills wouldn’t change unless the property tax millage rates are increased. Changes in ownership would result in new assessment levels being set.

The countywide question was approved by 11,309 votes, or 74.1 percent, and opposed by 3,944, or 25.9 percent.

Voters in the city of Woodstock passed the referendum for creating a freeze on assessments on property tax bills with 989 votes, or 71.8 percent in support and 389 votes, or 28.2 percent opposed.

In the city of Holly Springs, the referendum passed with 342 votes, or 75 percent, in favor and 114 votes, or 25 percent opposed.

Non-binding questions were also posed for voters: three on the Republican and one on the Democratic ballots.

Republican ballots asked whether or not the voters would like to see the selection of the county school superintendent become an elective post. Support for putting a future question before voters to make the position elected rather than appointed was approved with 11,370 votes, or 79.7 percent and 2,901 votes, or 20.3 percent voted no.

The question on the Republican ballots of whether or not county voters be allowed to vote on a measure to limit “increases on property assessments” was approved by 13,183 votes, or 92.2 percent. The proposal was rejected by 1,109 votes, or 7.8 percent.

Also garnering approval was a tax question on the Republican ballots: “Should the Georgia State Income Tax be eliminated and replaced with a retail sales tax similar to the “Fair Tax”?

The Fair Tax question passed with 11,412 votes, or 80.7 percent in favor. The question received 2,725 “No “ votes, or 19.3 percent.

The Democratic ballot included a question on traffic: “Even as more and more of Cherokee County and the Atlanta metro area are paved over for roads, traffic is becoming slower, more congested and polluting, ever more polluting. Should the State of Georgia and the Atlanta metro area finance and develop an efficient public transit system to improve local and commuter traffic?”

“Yes=E 2 was the answer from 1,784, or 87.7 percent of the Democratic ballot voters and “No” was the choice of 250, or 12.3 percent.