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(a) Whenever the governing authority of any county whose geographical boundary is conterminous with that of the special district in which the sales and use tax authorized by this part is being levied wishes to submit to the electors of the special district the question of whether the sales and use tax authorized by Code Section 48-8-102 shall be discontinued, the governing authority shall notify the election superintendent of the county whose geographical boundary is conterminous with that of the special district by forwarding to the superintendent a copy of a resolution of the governing authority calling for the referendum election. Upon receipt of the resolution, it shall be the duty of the election superintendent to issue the call for an election for the purpose of submitting the question of discontinuing the levy of the sales and use tax to the voters of the special district for approval or rejection. The election superintendent shall issue the call and shall conduct the election on a date and in the manner authorized under Code Section 21-2-540. Such election shall be conducted only on the date of and in conjunction with a referendum provided for by local Act on the question of whether to repeal the homestead exemption within such county which is funded from the proceeds of the sales and use tax levied and collected pursuant to this part. The election superintendent shall cause the date and purpose of the election to be published once a week for two weeks immediately preceding the date of the election in the official organ of such county. The ballot shall have written or printed thereon the following: “( ) YES Shall the 1 percent retail homestead option sales and use tax being levied within the special ( ) NO district within County for the purposes of funding capital outlay projects and of funding services to replace revenue lost to an additional homestead exemption of up to 100 percent of the assessed value of homesteads from county taxes for county purposes be terminated?” Click to view
(b) All persons desiring to vote in favor of discontinuing the sales and use tax shall vote “Yes,” and those persons opposed to discontinuing the tax shall vote “No.” If more than one-half of the votes cast are in favor of discontinuing the sales and use tax and repealing the local Act providing for such homestead exemption, then the sales and use tax shall cease to be levied on the last day of the taxable year following the taxable year in which the commissioner receives the certification of the result of the election; otherwise, the sales and use tax shall continue to be levied, and the question of the discontinuing of the tax may not again be submitted to the voters of the special district until after 24 months immediately following the month in which the election was held. It shall be the duty of the election superintendent to hold and conduct such elections under the same rules and regulations as govern special elections. It shall be the superintendent’s further duty to canvass the returns, declare and certify the result of the election, and certify the result to the Secretary of State and to the commissioner. The expense of the election shall be borne by the county whose geographical boundary is conterminous with that of the special district holding the election. History. Code 1981, § 48-8-106, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 655, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1, § 5; Ga. L. 2015, p. 217, § 2/HB 215; Ga. L. 2016, p. 864, § 48/HB 737.