Wednesday, November 22, 2000
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Wednesday, November 22, 2000 |
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Cities: Fayette should reduce taxes for all city residents
By DAVE HAMRICK
Tax equity will be on the minds of Fayette county and city officials as they gather next week in their FUTURE Committee meeting. FUTURE (Fayette United Team to Use Resources Efficiently) was formed three years ago to look for ways county and cities could cooperate to reduce costs and improve services to citizens. The group has hammered out several agreements that participants say have improved efficiency and reduced costs. But on tax equity, cooperation has been an elusive goal thus far. City leaders say their residents are taxed for services they aren't receiving and the county should either increase services within the cities or reduce taxes within the cities. County leaders say if anything the opposite is true. Commissioners recently approved a resolution stating their "final answer" is that there is no tax inequity. Although Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox and a consultant hired jointly by the county and cities have produced analyses that showed inequity, those analyses didn't take into account how sales taxes are distributed, said commission Chairman Harold Bost. "The city taxpayers are getting a heck of a lot of credit from sales tax," he said. The owner of a $200,000 home in unincorporated Fayette receives a $178 credit on property taxes due to the local option sales tax, Bost said, adding that city residents get that plus an additional credit: In Peachtree City, $440; In Tyrone, $540; In Fayetteville, $398; In Brooks, $620. Peachtree City Mayor Lenox said last week he was "appalled" at the county's final answer, and wondered why county leaders won't at least sit down with city leaders and talk about the impasse. Lenox pointed out that city residents also pay higher taxes to the county than residents of unincorporated areas do. "I find it unfathomable that a resident in the county pays less in taxes than a resident of the city, when we get little or nothing out of the county in the way of recreation, public safety, public works..." he said. FUTURE will meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29 in room 212 of the County Administrative Complex.
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