Wednesday, January 2, 2002
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Wednesday, January 2, 2002 |
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Year marked by controversy, progress By DAVE
HAMRICK
In spite of how it may seem, 2001 did not begin Sept. 11. Taken as a whole, in Fayette County it was a year of controversy and cooperation, frustration and accomplishment. Fayette County commissioners, with a new chairman and one new member, started the year with a bang, informing officials of the county's three largest cities that the county would end a six-year agreement under which it has provided space in the County Jail for inmates sentenced by municipal courts. At issue is money commissioners want to charge a per diem fee for the cities' prisoners, while city officials maintain that their residents pay taxes for operation of the jail, and that should be enough. The agreement formally ended Dec. 31, and in November Fayette and the city of Fayetteville appeared close to a new compromise agreement that might have been acceptable to the two other cities involved Tyrone and Peachtree City. But it wasn't. After meeting with their counterparts, Fayetteville officials agreed to drop the proposal and insist that the jail fee issue be included in a much larger discussion, court-ordered mediation of a dispute over tax equity. That dispute also involves money. The cities' leaders maintain that their residents pay more in taxes to the county than their residents receive in services about $2 million a year. County leaders say just the opposite is true. The dispute has raged for three years, but grew hotter this year as the mayors of the three cities filed a court action asking for mandatory mediation. Motions and counter-motions have held that action up for the latter half of the year, but discussions with a court-appointed mediator got underway in late November. County leaders have said they would refuse to include the jail agreement as part oof that discussion, but whether they stuck by their guns is unknown at this time because the meetings are being conducted in secret, in accordance with the court's order. The Citizen Newspapers have formally questioned that order, asking Judge Stephen Boswell to provide statutory authority for closing the meetings. As of the end of 2001, Boswell had not responded. Meanwhile, a casualty of the tax equity and jail fee dispute has been the county's plan to charge impact fees to developers to reduce the cost to taxpayers of building a new $50 million jail and courthouse complex. The first phase of that project is underway at a cost of $32.1 million, with taxpayers footing the entire bill. When the county notified cities of its intent to end the agreement to house city prisoners, the cities' response was to refuse to approve the impact fees within their borders without language guaranteeing space for their prisoners in the jail. Peachtree City's new mayor, Steve Brown, ended 2001 promising to try and get the impact fee agreement back on track and separate it from the more contentious issues between Fayette and its cities.
Another battle concerns sewerage Fayette and one of the municipalities Tyrone also clashed in 2001 over the town's plan to buy sewer service from the city of Fairburn, in Fulton County. The town needs sewer service to supply a John Wieland Homes subdivision and an attached Phil Seay retail development. The town denied zoning for the project, but the developers sued and won. Provision of sewer service will make the project more environmentally friendly, town leaders insist. County officials argue that Fairburn has no legal right to cross county lines to provide sewer, and they warn of runaway development if future developers manage to tie into that system, though town officials maintain there is no plan to do that. The county filed suit, losing the first two rounds. The final battle, in Superior Court at least, is set for this Tuesday, Jan. 8, in Fulton Superior Court.
Cooperation not dead But cooperation was not absent in Fayette County during 2001. Fayette and its cities joined forces to fight a proposed major power plant just over the county line in Fulton County. Williams Company has delayed its rezoning request several times, and is reevaluating its need for the plant following a storm of protest from surrounding neighborhoods in both Fulton and Fayette. The county and cities also agreed to accept state funding and provide local funding to finance a long-term goal of preserving 20 percent of the county's overall land as green space.
Commission turnover
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