SPLOST Advance Voting Underway

Advance voting for the Cobb Education SPLOST IV referendum begins today.

The formal referendum date is March 19, but voters wishing to cast early ballots may so do at the Cobb Elections main office, 736 Whitlock Ave., Marietta, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

Satellite advance voting takes place March 11-15 at the following locations:

• East Cobb Government Service Center, 4400 Lower Roswell Rd., Marietta,
  30068-4233. Hours 9:00am to 5:00pm
• South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive, Mableton, GA 30126-2438. Hours 9:00am to 5:00pm
• Northstar Church, 3413 Blue Springs Road NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144-1082. Hours 9:00am to 5:00pm
• Boots Ward Recreation Center, Lost Mountain Park, 4845 Dallas Highway,
  Powder Springs 30127-4486. Hours 9:00am to 5:00pm
• Cobb Elections Main Office, 736 Whitlock Ave., (West Park Government
  Center) Marietta, 30064-4663 NOTE: Hours 8:00am to 5:00pm

Voters also may choose to vote by mail, and requested ballots also will be mailed starting today. Voters can apply for a ballot on the Cobb Elections website and have it mailed to them.

A sample ballot also is available on the Cobb Elections website, but that feature has been experiencing some technical difficulty.

The SPLOST IV referendum would collect $717 million in a one-cent sales tax from Jan. 1, 2014 through Dec. 31, 2018, and would fund Cobb County School District school construction and maintenance projects.

For Marietta City Schools, the tax collected would amount to $55.4 million over the same period.

Every school in the Cobb County and Marietta City School system is slated for improvements, but dollar figures vary based on needs determined school district staff and approved for the project list by each school board.

The current SPLOST III collection period ends on Dec. 31, 2013.

Among the proposed Cobb SPLOST IV projects that would be funded are the following:

• Nearly $40 million in the construction of a new fine arts center, gymnasium and classroom addition at Walton High School;
• $30 million to replace Osborne High School;
• $30 million for an East Cobb-area replacement middle school;
• $30 million for a career academy;
• $23 million each for two replacement elementary schools.

Please see the attached PDF for the entire SPLOST IV project list for details.

There's also more information on the CCSD's SPLOST IV resource page, including PDF brochures of each high school district and its feeder schools.

For Marietta schools, the big ticket items are the following:

• Repayment of $15.2 million in long-term debt;
• An estimated $13 million for classroom technology upgrades and $2 million for staff and administrative technology upgrades;
• A total of $6.9 milion to renovate the Marietta Sixth Grade Academy;
• Major renovations at West Side and Hickory Hill elementaries;
• A new elementary school construction on Sawyer Road.

See the MCS SPLOST resource page for more information.