By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The Peachtree City Council has softened its stance on using impact fees to fund the new Fayette County Jail now that a new formula for collecting the fees is being drawn up.

At its meeting last Thursday, council was told the new formula doesn't hit new industries and businesses as hard as a previous version. Previously, council had opposed the impact fees on the basis that it would substantially hurt the city's ability to recruit new industry.

Actually, the new version of the formula isn't finalized yet. It is expected to be ready by the middle or end of this week, said Fayette County Attorney Dennis Davenport, who is assisting the negotiations between the county and the various cities.

The Fayette County Commission is asking all municipalities to collect an impact fee on new structures to defray the costs of building a new jail facility. The jail will be paid for through ad valorem taxes, but commissioners want to retire the debt quicker by using the impact fees.

Another sticking point for Peachtree City officials has been that the city would be required to issue a “credit” equal to the amount of the impact fee for all new businesses and industries. But City Attorney Rick Lindsey said that would not negatively affect the city's ability to get developers to fund necessary improvements before their projects can open.

“This is the first time we have come up with something palatable to us,” said Councilwoman Annie McMenamin.

If the impact fee issue is settled between the county and its communities, the proposal must then be approved by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs before the fees can be collected.

Lindsey told council at its meeting last Thursday that he has been discussing the impact fee issue with Davenport.

Davenport told Lindsey it would be hard to defend the impact fees plan if each city collects the fee differently. Lindsey also said Davenport indicated if Peachtree City didn't assess the impact fees on new industry that it would increase the city's burden on the impact fees.

Mayor Bob Lenox said the new formula for assessing impact fees was much more acceptable since it wouldn't hurt Peachtree City's industrial recruitment efforts.

There was some discussion of whether the impact fee should be assessed on churches.

“If there's a place you don't think would have an impact on jail services, it would be the church,” Lenox said.

But Lindsey said that churches need police services. He recalled that a church he belonged to was once broken into three times in one year.