ATLANTA - The Atlanta city council brought back to life on Monday a $149.9 million general obligation bond referendum designed to help the city repair its infrastructure as it prepares for the 1996 Olympic Games.
Voters will now have a change to decide the fate of the borrowing on July 19, the same day that Georgia holds party primaries. The bond referendum had originally been scheduled for March 15, but was canceled a week before that date following a legal challenge over a series of errors in posting notice about the election.
"We are very pleased the city council has given us their support in putting the bonds before voters in July," Nick Gold, spokesman for Mayor Bill Campbell, said yesterday.
The July referendum will be divided into three separate ballots: $78.2 million of bonds for roads, bridges and viaducts; $55.6 million for storm-water drainage facilities; and $16.1 million for erosion and flood control. The ballots do not specify locations for the improvements.
Campbell remains committed to an earlier vow that he will not raise taxes to cover debt service on the bonds if they are approved Gold said.
In its Monday meeting, the city council voted 14 to 1 in favor of holding the referendum, with council member Carolyn Long Banks the lone opponent. In comments before the vote was taken, Banks said she could not support the referendum as long as it did not include a specific list of projects.
Gold said if the referendum is approved it would give the city time to finish important infrastructure repairs before the Summer Olympics begin in July of 1996.
"It will be a tight schedule, but it can be done," he said. "From now on in just about every pubic speaking engagement, the mayor will try to get the message out about how important the bonds are to Atlanta."
City officials are taking care to avoid the mistakes that doomed the March 15 referendum, Michael Bell, Atlanta's chief financial officer, said yesterday. Bell also said that Public Financial Management Inc. and Dobbs, Ram & Co. have been tentatively selected as financial advisers. Alston & Bird, Kilpatrick & Cody, and the Sales Law Group are the tentative picks for co-bond counsel, he said.
Campbell's decision to call off the March vote followed a state court ruling in favor of a taxpayer's association that had filed suit challenging the referendum. On March 3, Georgia Superior Court Judge George B. Culpepper 3d ruled that the city had violated state law by misstating facts about the proposed borrowing in printed notices.
But the judge said he would permit the referendum to be held, pending appeal.
Shortly after the ruling, Campbell decided to cancel the referendum anyway after opponents pointed out yet another error: The city had announced the debt would mature over a 35-year period, whereareas Georgia law does no permit GO issues to extend beyond 30 years.
Campbell originally proposed the borrowing plan in February. The mayor's push for the bond issue followed intensive local media coverage of Atlanta's infrastructure problems, including a series of broken water mains that almost forced suspension of water service in January.
Atlanta has had mixed success in winning approval for its GO issues. In December 1992, voters approved $94 million of GO debt for school building renovations. But in May 1988, the voters crushed a $308 million package that would have authorized $158 million for infrastructure renovations and $150 million for schools.
