Election results rarely make it into a home listing, but they shape what your neighborhood looks like for the next decade. On November 3, Cobb County voters approved the 2028 SPLOST renewal with roughly 62 percent of the vote, and Cherokee County voters passed the SB 407 school-tax homestead exemption with more than three-quarters of the vote. Both measures change the math for homeowners, buyers, and sellers in ways worth understanding before you make a move.
What Cobb's 2028 SPLOST Renewal Pays For
The 2028 SPLOST is a renewal of the existing 1 percent county sales tax, projected to raise about $1.15 billion over six years, running January 1, 2028 through December 31, 2033. Because it is a sales tax, not a property tax, every shopper in the county contributes, and homeowners are not assessed directly for it. The money funds roads, sidewalks, stormwater, parks, libraries, and public safety facilities across Cobb.
Marietta's Share
Marietta's approximately $78.2 million share is earmarked for widening Whitlock Avenue and Cherokee Street, two fire station remodels, a new Ward 7 park, and turf replacement at Franklin Gateway. Those are the kinds of projects that show up in your commute and in the parks where your kids play, and they are the reason the city asked voters for the renewal in the first place.
Kennesaw's Share
Kennesaw's roughly $46.77 million Tier 1 list includes Main Street and downtown walkability improvements, expanded Depot Park parking, a new community center, and the proposed closure of a stretch of Cherokee Street in front of the Southern Museum to create a pedestrian zone. For anyone watching downtown Kennesaw, this is the funding behind the revival.
Acworth's Share
Acworth's SPLOST-funded projects include the Due West/Ragsdale Road multi-use trail now under construction, the New McEver Road multi-use trail, the Nance Road/Main Street intersection improvements, a new police training facility, a $1 million renovation of the Logan Multi-Use Trail, and the first phase of Historic Downtown Infrastructure and Streetscape improvements. The city's own November 2 referendum mirrored the county question, and both passed.
What Cherokee's SB 407 Homestead Exemption Does
Cherokee County voters approved the SB 407 school-tax homestead exemption with more than three-quarters of the vote, roughly 92,708 yes votes out of about 127,930 cast. Through tax year 2031, the exemption caps the growth in a qualifying homestead's assessed value at 4 percent per year for Cherokee County School District taxes. In plain terms, if your home's assessed value jumps by more than 4 percent in a year, the portion above that cap is exempt from school taxes, which makes school tax bills more predictable for long-time owners.
Two details are worth knowing. The exemption applies to the school district's maintenance and operations levy, and it does not cover school bond debt, so the district's ability to borrow for facilities is unchanged. Cherokee voters also weighed the district's one-cent Ed-SPLOST renewal and a $425 million school bond question on the same ballot, part of the funding plan behind projects like the renovation that will reopen Canton Elementary School in August 2028.
What This Means for Buyers and Sellers
For sellers, a passing SPLOST is a quiet value signal. Streets get repaved, sidewalks get filled in, parks get renovated, and those improvements show up in how a neighborhood feels and in what buyers are willing to pay. For buyers, the Cherokee exemption means school tax bills should be more predictable over time, which is a real line item in your monthly budget. And for long-time homeowners, both measures reduce uncertainty: infrastructure gets funded without a property-tax increase, and school-tax assessment growth gets a cap.
Paulding County had no county SPLOST or referendum on the ballot this cycle, so Dallas-area homeowners did not see a similar question this year. That does not mean the county is standing still: the Union Park groundbreaking, the Winndale Road Trailhead project for Silver Comet Trail access, and the Fair Park transformation plan are all moving forward through existing funding.
The Bottom Line
Elections decide the pace of trails, parks, roads, and classrooms, and those are the details that make a community feel right. We watch these votes closely for our clients, and we are happy to walk through what a specific project or tax change means for your situation. If you are thinking about buying or selling in Cobb or Cherokee County, give us a call or schedule a no-pressure consultation.
Have a great day.