By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

If Peachtree City decides to levy impact fees to help pay for the new county jail, new residents might be the only ones asked to pay the tab.

At a council meeting last week, the Peachtree City Council made it clear that it strongly opposes charging the impact fees on industries and businesses.

The county commission has asked local cities to charge the impact fees to defray the costs of the new jail. The county's recommended impact fee formula calls for new industries and businesses to be assessed the fees along with new residences.

The city could lose money by collecting the impact fees from industries and businesses, said Mayor Bob Lenox. The city would be required to “credit” a new business or industry the amount of money it pays in an impact fee, City Attorney Rick Lindsey confirmed.

“That's like taking $100,000 out of my pocket,” Lenox said. “That's why we have a problem.”

Lenox also said the fees would hurt the recruitment of new industries.

Councilman Robert Brooks said the county could collect the impact fee from Peachtree City residents instead of the city doing the work. But assistant county attorney Dennis Davenport said the county wouldn't have jurisdiction to do that.

Lenox said the city could determine its own formula for collecting impact fees regardless of what the county or other municipalities do.

“I really don't care whether it matches up with what you're doing,” Lenox added.

Davenport indicated that the impact fee proposal would stand a better chance of being approved by the state if all the municipalities agreed on the impact fee structure.

“We're trying to get something that's acceptable to everybody,” said county commission chairman Harold Bost. “We're trying to get everybody to agree so the new growth can pay for the new jail.”

Bost added that the county is losing $4,000 in additional revenue to pay off the jail for each day the impact fee is not in place.