Wednesday, May 23, 2001
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Wednesday, May 23, 2001 |
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County defends court motion to throw out cities' tax equity claim By DAVE HAMRICK
Fayette County should allow a request for mandatory mediation of its tax equity dispute with local cities to move through the courts unhindered, says Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox. Leaders in Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone filed the petition last month, asking the court to order mandatory mediation. The cities claim Fayette County owes their residents about $3 million a year because they pay more in taxes than they receive in services. The county last week filed its response to the cities' request, asking Superior Court Judge Ben Miller to dismiss the petition as groundless. "The county made a motion to dismiss based on technical grounds... " Lenox said, indicating he would prefer the issue be settled soon rather than dragging into the future. But ending the dispute quickly is precisely the county's intent, said County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn. "We're trying to avoid the cost of lawsuits for all the entities involved," said Dunn. "We think that what we're doing is legal and right." A hearing on the county's motion to dismiss is set for July 13 at 9 a.m. Lenox has been vocal about the dispute between Fayette's cities and the County Commission. He contends the commission agreed to abide by the results of an independent study on the matter, but now the commissioners have changed their minds. That study was performed last year by Governmental Solutions Ltd., and paid for jointly by the county and cities. GSL's consultants reported that a tax inequity does exist and recommended several methods for addressing them. The issue came up as part of the governments' negotiations in efforts to comply with HB 489, a 1996 state law requiring that counties and cities cooperate to eliminate duplication of services and reduce taxes. City leaders insist that the issue was never resolved, but county leaders say that because a service distribution agreement between county and cities was approved by state agencies, there is no need to address the cities' claims until a new agreement is required by law, in about two years. The county's motion to dismiss the cities' request for mandatory mediation says that the state law "enumerates the types of circumstances where a service delivery strategy would need to be revised," and state: "None of the circumstances listed ... have occurred requiring a renegotiation of the service delivery strategy."
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