Friday, December 28, 2001
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Friday, December 28, 2001 |
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Hotel tax far below projections By JOHN
MUNFORD For the first two months of the fiscal year, the slowed economy has hit Peachtree City hardest in its collection of hotel-motel tax revenues. Revenues from other funds, however, have more than made up the difference, keeping the city at 7 percent above its original budget projections for the first two months. Still, with that good news, the funds embargoed for a slew of city projects and equipment in case of a budget shortfall won't be released for another two months. "We want to see what happens with the local option sales tax over the next few months," said City Finance Director Paul Salvatore. Salvatore was referring to the city's largest revenue source, the local option sales tax, brought in $939,988 for October and November, less than one percent under original projections. But hotel-motel revenues were down almost 38 percent from the city's original projections for the same period, largely due to the nation's economic slowdown, according to Salvatore. To make up for the $66,000 shortfall, Councilman Steve Rapson suggested council consider increasing the hotel-motel tax from 5 percent to 7 percent until the slowdown tapers off. Rapson also suggested going back to the Peachtree City Development Authority, which operates the tennis center, to see if it could trim projects there a bit further and possibly forego extra monies it had been promised from expected increases in hotel-motel tax revenues. In March, council voted to increase the hotel-motel tax from 3 to 5 percent, with the majority of the increase funding the debt service for the expansion of the Peachtree City Tennis Center. Outgoing Mayor Bob Lenox said he fully supported increasing the hotel-motel tax to 7 percent. He also said it should be lowered "when things get back to normal." Salvatore noted that revenues from the alcoholic beverage tax were up 12 percent over projections. "I agree with Paul," joked Councilwoman Annie McMenamin. "We're not staying in hotels but we're staying home drinking."
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