Wednesday, December 19, 2001
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Wednesday, December 19, 2001 |
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PTC's hotel-motel tax revenues down, but insurance taxes pick up the slack By JOHN
MUNFORD
With hotel-motel tax revenues coming in at 38 percent below the budgeted amount for the year, Peachtree City officials are recommending no changes in the budget contingency plan at the current time. Although hotel-motel tax revenues are down, the city's overall revenues are up 7 percent, largely due to a significant windfall in the city's insurance premium tax revenue due to the distribution formula being modified with figures from the latest U.S. Census, according to a memo distributed to members of the City Council. The City Council will be updated on the city's budget contingency plan at its meeting Thursday night, although no action is recommended by city staff. The hotel-motel tax revenues are down $66,676 from initial projections for the first two months of the fiscal year, city finance director Paul Salvatore wrote in the memo. But those projections were made before the country's economy entered a recession in the fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Earlier this year, the council voted to increase the hotel-motel tax from 3 to 5 percent, with the additional funds earmarked for payments on the expansion of the city's Tennis Center and improvements to the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater. Part of the increase was also committed to the airport authority to fund necessary projects at Falcon Field. The contingency plan developed by city staff resulted in funds being impounded for a variety of city projects until city officials are sure that the effects of the recession will not hurt the city's revenue stream.
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