By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

It will be at least another month or two before Fayette's county and municipal leaders start to get down to brass tax on the tax inequity question.

County Commission Chairman Harold Bost threw out some more numbers for his colleagues to crunch in last week's meeting of government officials.

After hearing from Bost, members of FUTURE (Fayette United Team to Use Resources Efficiently) asked Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox to update his two-year-old analysis of the county/city tax picture for future discussion.

That will take a few weeks, after which city and county finance professionals will go over the figures as well, Bost said this week.

“It's not a simple process,” said Bost.

County and city governments recently pooled resources and hired a consultant to study the tax structure and services of the cities and county after Tyrone Councilman Ronnie Cannon voiced the opinion that the town's residents were being shortchanged in county-wide services, and officials in Peachtree City and Fayetteville later joined in the refrain.

After studying the services and tax structures of all the governments involved, consultant Steve Burnett said city residents are indeed overtaxed, mainly for services from the Sheriff's, Public Works and Recreation departments.

The alleged inequity amounts to about eight tenths of a mill in property taxes, or about $57 in taxes on a $200,000 home.

But in last week's FUTURE meeting, Bost said the consultant's study was limited to a few county services and only the basic types of taxes.

For instance, Bost said, when lawbreakers are fined in county courts, the fines and court fees are paid to the city where the arrest was made, even though the costs of running the court and jail (if any jail time is involved) are paid by the county.

He submitted figures that he said show that city residents receive more than their fair share of services for franchise taxes, beverage taxes, the insurance premium tax, permit and inspection fees, business licenses, zoning fees, emergency medical services and the county property transfer tax.

The county tax commissioner collects no charge for billing and collecting municipal taxes, Bost added.

“These are clean, clear-cut credits that should go to the county residents” in deciding tax equity, Bost said.

But he added, “I really don't anticipate having to sit down at the very end and write a check. Relations between the county and city are the best they've been in recent history.”

Once the city and county leaders agree on how much inequity actually exists, they may be able to negotiate joint services and special tax districts as a way to even things out, rather than having to increase taxes in the unincorporated areas and reducing them in the cities.