InTucker Magazine

Get Out the Vote!

The City of Tucker does not have an item on the ballot in every election. You may have noticed that there are never items in the primary elections because our elected seats are non-partisan. This was decided by design so that local representatives serve the community rather than a party. The Tucker Council is made up of seven people, the Mayor and two members for each of the three districts. The Mayor and seat one of each district are elected the same years as the presidential election. The second seat for each district is scheduled for the middle year in between. The City saw eight candidates qualify for the three seats in August and seven are still on the ballot. In District One, Virginia Rece and Karen Berry are on the ballot, in District Two there are Patrice Cosby, Vinh Nguyen and Derik West, and in District Three are Simone Pacely and Amy Trocchi. There have been several candidate forums hosted by local media and co-hosted by the Tucker Business and Civic Associations. Residents will only be able to vote for the candidates in their Districts. To find out your district please visit tuckerga.gov/elections and click on the Tucker Votes icon to see your district and your representatives all the way up to the federal level.

In addition to the Council seats, there are five questions for Dekalb County residents that also affect municipal residents. The first question considers increasing the income cap on the homestead exemption for residents who are 65 years of age or over or those that are disabled. The second and third concern raising the income cap for seniors regarding an exemption for the school tax.

The fourth and fifth questions require citizens to vote whether to approve a second six-year Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and whether to continue the suspension of the Homestead Option Sales Tax (HOST) and continue replacing it with the Equalized Homestead Option Sales Tax (EHOST). Both of these special taxes are currently in place for all DeKalb citizens and these votes are whether or not the County will continue with them. The ballot also states that in order for one to be enacted then both need approval. If one fails then neither will go into effect.

Tucker has been receiving SPLOST funds since March of 2018 and it is set to expire in March of 2024. These funds are from a one percent sales tax and are given to the City to manage capital improvements to the infrastructure. The approved project list on the ballot include: projects to be funded from the City of Tucker’s share of the proceeds including (a) road improvement and repair, (b) expansion and improvements of trails, sidewalks, and bikeways, (c) parks capital outlay, and (d) stormwater infrastructure.

For more details and information please visit tuckerga.gov/elections. There you will find links to the state and the county regarding your voter status, where to vote and what is on the ballot explanations