news release

Today, Mayor Shirley Franklin, joined by Councilmembers Ceasar Mitchell, Debi Starnes, Clair Muller, Mary Norwood and H. Lamar Willis, held a press conference to thank the people of Atlanta for approving the Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST) referendum, and to thank the leadership of the State of Georgia for allowing the people to have the opportunity to vote on this issue.

Mayor Franklin issued the following statement:

“The Voters of Atlanta have spoken. First and foremost, I want to thank the people of Atlanta for approving the Municipal Option Sales Tax. Once again, we have chosen to tax ourselves to improve the City’s quality of life. With the passage of the MOST, we share the burden of paying for the rebuilding and upgrading of the City's water and sewer system with the people who visit. The $3 billion dollar Clean Water Atlanta program will provide clean water to Atlanta and our neighbors downstream for generations to come.

I thank my colleagues on the Atlanta City Council for having the courage and fortitude to approve the Clean Water Atlanta program and to set the necessary rates. I thank the leadership of the State of Georgia - Governor Sonny Perdue, Lt. Governor Mark Taylor, Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, Speaker Terry Coleman and members of the Georgia General Assembly, especially the Atlanta-Fulton delegation and the Black Caucus - for allowing Atlantans the right to choose how to pay for the improvement program.

But most of all, I thank the people of Atlanta for making the difficult decision to accept our responsibility now to ensure our future and our children's future.

The confidence the people have placed in the City of Atlanta will be warranted:

• The City will rollback the 2005 water and sewer rates, dollar for dollar, with every penny collected from the Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST)
  
• The City will continue to spend funds wisely and reduce costs in our Clean Water Atlanta program to ensure safe and clean water for future generations
  
• The City will continue to pursue a comprehensive funding approach of
  • local responsibility through adoption of adequate rates,
  • regional responsibility through implementation of the MOST, and
  • aggressively seeking federal funds, so we can further rollback our rates.

The City of Atlanta and the voters have stepped up to the plate to pay our share - a step our congressional delegation told us was necessary to help secure federal funding. Now we have the credibility to go back to the federal government and ask for a fair share of the money we send to Washington every year to solve the problem of crumbling infrastructure facing our nation.

This is a proud day for the voters of Atlanta. We are on the way to achieving the common goals of improving our water and sewer system, minimizing the rate impact to our customers and providing clean safe water for future generations.

Thank you and God bless.”