Friday, April 6, 2001
Friday, April 6, 2001 |
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Bonds for city projects have been proposed before
By JOHN
MUNFORD The idea of using a bond issue to help fund projects for Peachtree City isn't a new idea. In the past, five different bond referendums have been proposed on city ballots, with three passing and two failing. But a recent proposal from Mayor Bob Lenox calls for voters to decide on the fate of three separate bond issues which are likely to surface on the ballot on November. Two of the bonds would retire the debt of the city's airport and development authorities, fund a $2.5 million expansion of the city's tennis center, add another basketball court and a gymnastics area at the Kedron Recreation Center and go towards the purchase and improvements to Drake Field. Those two bonds would total $6.65 million if approved by voters. The city's annual payment on both those bonds would be covered by the proposed raising of the hotel-motel tax from 3 to 5 percent, Lenox contends. The third bond proposal, to build a community center for over $5 million, would require a millage rate increase from between .15 and .3 mils, Lenox said. The first effort in Peachtree City to use a bond issue for a city project was in 1980 to fund a recreation facility. Voters turned down the bid for the $2.5 million bond issue, according to city records. A second attempt at a bond issue came in 1982 when voters approved a $600,000 bond issue for a maintenance building and capital equipment purchases. The third bond issue also passed voters' muster, netting $2.35 million for a fire station, public services and dispatch building. A fourth bond issue attempt in 1989 failed, however, with a proposal to secure $7.5 million for reconstruction of the amphitheater facility, which had burned, and an additional recreation complex with a gym and pool. Former Mayor Fred Brown Jr. said he thought the bond issue was voted down since it would have required raising property taxes by almost 1 mil. The amphitheater was rebuilt later with other city funds, Brown said. In 1993, voters approved a $3 million bond that paid for the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic Center, the Gathering Place and the baseball-soccer complex on Ga. Highway 74 South.
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