MARIETTA - Residents on Tuesday barely passed a $25 million bond to improve existing parks and buy new parkland.

With only 15 percent of Marietta voters turning out to cast ballots, the bond narrowly passed in a vote of 2,418 to 2,359, or 51 percent to 49 percent, with all 12 precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registrations. The city has 31,337 voters.

"I think people saw the need to invest in our city," said Councilwoman Holly Walquist, who along with Mayor Bill Dunaway spearheaded putting the parks bond on the ballot. "They want our city to look better and be a better place to live, work and raise a family. Maybe they saw what we did with Henry Park and Lewis Park and wanted that for their neighborhood. I want to thank the Progress Marietta group for doing a great job of getting the word out despite some very difficult circumstances. Now the really hard work begins of sitting down with neighborhood groups to agree what kinds of improvements they would like to see."

Marietta Progress, Inc., a citizens committee co-chaired by Kim Gresh and Arthur Vaughn, held public meetings with low turnouts on Oct. 21 and Oct. 29 to promote the bond.

Retired businessman Steve Imler served as treasurer of Progress Marietta Inc., donating $5,000 as a "jumpstart" to a campaign that he said got a late start. Imler said the group raised another $4,000, and used it on mailings to registered voters in Wards 2, 3, 4 and 5 - wards that either had higher voter turnout or competitive races. The group also managed to place in the ground most of the 500 signs it ordered. Imler said he devoted his time and money to promote the bond because the city doesn't have alternative park funding. Moreover, he believes now is a good time to buy land for new parks.

The bond will be used to improve existing city parks ($11 million); acquire land ($5 million); develop new and existing facilities, trails and green space ($5 million); and for planning, design and administration costs ($4 million). For property owners, the bond will result in a 20-year tax increase of about $25 per year for each $100,000 of appraised value, said Rich Buss, the city's parks and recreation director. He earlier said the exact dollar impact to taxpayers will depend on the interest rate the city obtains when the bonds are issued.

Councilman Jim King was one of the council members to support putting the referendum on the ballot.

"I supported the people's right to vote for it and I really felt an obligation to give them a chance for it," he said Tuesday night. "The citizens appeared to show a large amount of support for it and as I talked to my neighbors and friends and residents, they all supported it. They really did. It's going to cost $50 to $60 dollars (extra per homeowner per year) in my neighborhood roughly. Compared to the dues for our pool, that's nothing and that's how they saw it."

Steve "Thunder" Tumlin, a parks bond supporter, thought it was going to fail.

"We always underestimate the people ...The people said we want this. They just said we want parks. I love the beauty of a referendum," Tumlin said.

With half the seven-member council opposing it, the bond appeared to be in trouble.

Council members Van Pearlberg, Annette Lewis, Anthony Coleman and Philip Goldstein said, while they support improvements to parks, a recession is not the time for a tax increase.

The council voted 4-3 on Aug. 12 with Goldstein, Lewis and Coleman opposed, to put the parks bond on the Nov. 3 ballot. Pearlberg said while he supported letting voters decide the bond question, he personally would vote against it.

Progress Marietta committee member Mary Ansley Southerland, daughter of the late Mayor Ansley Meaders, did not necessarily think the parks bond had an uphill battle just because the council was divided over it.

"The council is not necessarily a very good representation of the voters of this city," she said.

The council has also been unable to reach consensus on adopting a citywide parks master plan it paid Lilburn-based consultant Robert Betz $60,000 to design. The council hired Betz in fall 2007 to design the master plan, which was presented in draft form at a retreat in winter 2008. But ever since receiving that draft, council members have been unable to agree on adopting it.

Dunaway and Walquist, both parks bond supporters, have attributed that failure to ward politics, specifically, the divide between affluent west Marietta and underprivileged east Marietta.