Vote yes for booze. No for school tax. Please.

• http://clatl.com/atlanta/ImageArchives?by=1223504
• Gimme that good ol’ mountain dew…

Wow, our commenters have continually been one step ahead of me with regard to the Nov. 8 referenda on booze and schools. Yesterday, they noted that the proposed 1-cent school SPLOST is only one in a series of tax votes in coming months; that a goodly chunk of the school tax revenue would go toward building a new North Atlanta High School; and that interim APS Superintendent Erroll Davis has hinted that if the system doesn’t get its sales tax, it’ll raise our property taxes.

First things first: On Tuesday, Atlantans vote on whether to renew the 1-cent sales tax for city schools. This coming March (I think), we vote on whether to renew the city’s 1-cent water and sewer tax. In July, we return to the polls to vote on the proposed Regional T-SPLOST, which will fund the Beltline, MARTA extensions and a light-rail line from Midtown to Cumberland.

If all three measures are approved, the local sales tax in Atlanta would bump up by a penny from the current 8 cents. Chicago, L.A. and plenty of other big cities have higher sales taxes, but my guess is that 9 cents represents a psychological barrier that many voters will not want to cross — which could spell doom for the transportation tax only because it follows the other referenda.

I’ll put it simply: If you want to improve the chances of the T-SPLOST passing, you should vote against the school tax. (A vote against the sewer tax, on the other hand, would only serve to ratchet up our water rates again, since the city is under a federal consent decree to upgrade the system.)

As for the threat of a property tax increase if the APS doesn’t get its penny, let’s just see if school board members have the cojones to vote for a tax hike. If they thought they were unpopular during the whole “Step Up or Step Down” campaign, they would need to wear disguises in public if they tried to raise folks’ taxes.

That’s what’s so aggravating about the Nov. 8 school tax referendum: If it passes, the school board can claim they’re only spending money that voters approved — and they’d be right. Don’t let that happen. Call their bluff. If they think they need the extra funding, they should be forced to go on the record in voting for a tax increase. Don’t let them take the money through a stealth referendum by not going to the polls on Tuesday.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss why we haven’t seen more public opposition to the school tax.