Wednesday, October 10, 2001
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Wednesday, October 10, 2001 |
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Tax equity dispute headed to court again By DAVE
HAMRICK
Fayette County and its cities once again have scheduled their day in court to settle their long-standing tax equity dispute. Following a pretrial conference last week, senior Judge Stephen E. Boswell of Jonesboro set a hearing for Nov. 1 at 4 p.m. in Fayette Superior Court. Boswell was assigned to the case recently after Fayette Judge Ben Miller recused himself. County attorneys will argue for dismissal of a request for mandatory mediation from Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone. If their motion to dismiss is denied, Boswell will appoint a mediator to seek an arbitration of the dispute. Leaders in the three cities involved Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone claim that their residents are paying more in taxes to Fayette County than they receive in services. County leaders say if anything, the opposite is true. Under recent state law, counties and cities are required to develop joint strategies for delivery of service to avoid double taxation and reduce the cost of government, and the statute also provides for mandatory mediation when counties and cities can't agree. But county leaders argue that Fayette and its cities already approved a joint service delivery strategy almost two years ago, and mediation of the tax dispute should come only after that agreement expires. That will be in a matter of months. "Why do it twice?" said County Attorney Bill McNally. Talks aimed at ironing out the dispute broke down late last year, and cities filed the request for mandatory mediation prescribed in the law. But Fayette's attorneys filed the motion to dismiss that request, pointing out that the county and cities have filed a joint service delivery strategy that has been approved by the state, and that agreement expires in a little over a year. The tax equity dispute should be taken up as part of hammering out a new strategy once the old one expires, they argue.
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