DeKalb County’s Nov. 3 ballot asks voters to reimpose the school sales tax, raise Brookhaven’s homestead exemption for seniors and disabled residents and approve a land annexation into Tucker. Which questions a voter sees depends on where they live. All three appear on the county’s sample ballot. The school tax is countywide, the Brookhaven question goes to city voters and the Tucker vote is limited to the annexation area. Early voting runs through Oct. 30. The county’s early voting page links to the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page, and Tucker’s page says voters can preview their ballot there [1].
School sales tax. The question appears on the county ballot as “DeKalb County ESPLOST.” It asks: “Shall the special one percent sales and use tax for educational purposes currently imposed in DeKalb County be reimposed on July 1, 2027, upon the expiration of the such currently imposed tax, for not longer than 20 consecutive calendar quarters, to raise not more than $1,046,154,324.00” for the purposes the ballot lists.
The ballot divides that cap among three school systems. The DeKalb County School District’s cap is $946,773,776, and a yes vote by a majority of voters within that district would also approve up to $500,000,000 in general obligation debt for its projects. The Atlanta Independent School System’s is $41,504,193 and City Schools of Decatur’s is $57,876,355. The ballot says the projects are “more fully described in the Notice of Election.”
City Schools of Decatur calls the measure a proposed continuation of the existing one-cent sales tax, not an additional tax, and says the money goes to capital projects, not routine operating expenses such as salaries and benefits. Its timeline page lists August 2026 for the execution of a joint resolution among the three school systems. The Decatur district estimates its share at $57 million, or $11 million to $12 million a year over five years, and lists among possible projects the refinancing of its outstanding Series 2010 Certificate of Participation [2].
Brookhaven. City voters will see: “Shall the Act to incorporate the City of Brookhaven be amended so as to increase the current homestead exemption for senior citizens and disabled persons from $160,000.00 to $200,000.00?” The ballot identifies the measure as House Bill 1307, Act No. 555. A city notice posted July 31 said the City Council’s Aug. 3 special called meeting would take up a resolution asking the DeKalb elections board to call the special election.
Tucker. The ballot reads: “Shall the Act which annexes certain land into the City of Tucker be approved?” It identifies the measure as Senate Bill 622, Act No. 704. The city’s information page says only registered voters who live inside the proposed annexation boundary can vote on it. The city says a yes vote would place that area inside Tucker, while a no vote would leave it in unincorporated DeKalb County. According to the city, annexation would bring street paving, sidewalk work, park planning and apartment code enforcement under Tucker, and residents could vote in Tucker elections. The page links to a map of the area.
What groups have said. City Schools of Decatur and the Tucker and Brookhaven governments have described their measures, and none of those pages asks voters to vote yes or no. The city’s Tucker page adds that local DeKalb lawmakers supported SB 622 in the General Assembly. GApolitics searched on Oct. 15 and found no published position from an outside group on any of the three questions. Each search covered its own list of places.
For the school tax: the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican parties, the DeKalb, Decatur-DeKalb and Metro Atlanta chambers, the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, the AFL-CIO, the Organization of DeKalb Educators, the Georgia Association of Educators, AFT locals, the Georgia Farm Bureau, PTA and school foundation groups, taxpayer groups, and the DeKalb and Atlanta school boards’ own resolutions. GApolitics did not find those two resolutions or the DeKalb County School District’s and the Atlanta system’s project lists.
For Tucker: both county parties, the Tucker Business Association, the DeKalb and Metro Atlanta chambers, the labor council, the AFL-CIO, the three educator groups, the Farm Bureau, the Tucker Civic Association, neighborhood associations in the annexation area and any City Council resolution. For Brookhaven: both county parties, the Brookhaven and Metro Atlanta chambers, the labor council, the AFL-CIO, the three educator groups, the Farm Bureau, taxpayer groups and senior or neighborhood associations. The searches also looked for a campaign committee on every question and found none.