Friday, August 3, 2001
Friday, August 3, 2001 |
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Cuts suggested for PTC budget
By JOHN
MUNFORD
A significantly trimmed 2002 budget for Peachtree City will be presented to the City Council at a special budget meeting at City Hall Saturday morning at 8 a.m. With proposed cuts from the operating budget and the public improvement program, city staff is recommending a 5.7 percent increase in the property tax rate, which would bring the city back to its 2000 rate of 4.06 mills. The latest budget recommendation to council reflects a reduction of more than $870,000. Originally, staff proposed increasing the tax rate 24 percent for this year's budget to 4.75 mills. But at the first meeting on the budget several weeks ago, council members asked staff to cut the budget and hold off on such a dramatic millage increase. The acquisition of Drake Field must be factored into the 2002 budget and that's the reason for the millage increase to 4.06, City Manager Jim Basinger said in a memo to council. The city's Development Authority agreed to purchase the land near City Hall earlier this year from Pathway Communities, which actually owned the property but allowed the public to use it as a park area. Even with the 5.7 percent increase this year, staff is projecting a 24 percent hike for the 2003 budget, Basinger said in the memo. The proposed cuts include requests for two new full-time and two new part-time employees, trimming more than $118,000 from the budget. One of the full-time positions was an Emergency Medical Services lieutenant and the other was an automobile mechanic for public works. The two part-time requests were for a building technician and fieldhouse leader at Kedron Fieldhouse. The City Council's contingency fund was cut by $150,000. Another $75,134 was trimmed from departmental budgets. But the majority of the cuts came from the city's 2002 public improvement plan for a host of projects. Funding for several projects was pushed back a few years, including the expansion of the library and the construction of a satellite auto repair facility. The revised budget projects an increase in the unreserved cash fund to $2.32 million, but that falls almost $400,000 short of the target goal for the fund. The unreserved cash fund is used to stabilize tax rates during economic downturns and fund emergency public heath and safety needs that might arise, Basinger noted. Last year, $1.4 million from the unreserved cash fund was used to balance the budget, which called for 12 new employees and increases in salaries resulting from a pay study commissioned by council. To avoid a property tax increase, council also rolled back the millage rate, which Mayor Bob Lenox recently characterized as a mistake on council's behalf. Councilman Steve Rapson led the charge in seeking the budget cuts, presenting a detailed analysis at council's first meeting on the budget. He said there was room for cuts that could hold the millage at its current rate and increase the unreserved cash fund.
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