Wednesday, May 29, 2002
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Wednesday, May 29, 2002 |
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Chairman: cutting off funds to PTC Development Authority is "dirty pool"
By JOHN
MUNFORD It would be "dirty pool" to cut off city funding to Peachtree City's development authority before a dispute over those payments is settled in court, according to authority chairman Tate Godfrey. That is one of the possible actions recommended to Mayor Steve Brown in a memo from Councilman Murray Weed. The memo suggested that the City Council could instruct the city's finance director to withhold the funds until a possible lawsuit over the matter is resolved. "We have to assume that's the direction they're going in," Godfrey said Tuesday morning, noting that no council members have contacted him or the authority about resolving the dispute. "... To me, that makes the biggest statement of their intentions of anything they have done to date." The Development Authority, which uses funds from the city's hotel-motel tax to operate the tennis center and amphitheater, was to discuss the matter in executive session last night after The Citizen's press time. The Airport Authority, which also depends on a similar contract for hotel-motel funds to run Falcon Field, is expected to discuss the matter in executive session tonight. The City Council has already appointed an independent attorney to investigate the contracts between the city and the authorities that were signed by former Mayor Bob Lenox last year. It has been alleged that the contracts signed by Lenox removed language from a previous version council approved that allowed the city to reduce the hotel-motel tax payments at its "sole discretion." The version signed by Lenox requires that the authorities have to sign off on any council attempt to change the funding. The change gives veto power on funding changes to the authorities. Lenox claims that change was in the documents that were approved by the entire council at its June 6 meeting. The contracts stipulate how much of the city's hotel-motel tax funds will be diverted to the authority for the operation of the city's tennis center, amphitheater and airport. Brown wants to delete an annual $155,000 "supplement" to the tennis center from the contracts, claiming the current City Council should have the ability to decide how those funds are spent. The majority of the tennis center's annual budget comes from membership dues and fees for court time and lessons. "Every recreation program has some form of underwriting by the city," Godfrey said, citing the $500,000 spent to operate the city's Kedron Fieldhouse/Aquatic Center as an example. "I think it is appalling they'd consider cutting the funds off before it's ruled on by a federal judge," Godfrey said. "That's just dirty pool." The authority "made commitments" based on the fund payment schedule outlined in the contract, Godfrey noted. The authority financed $2.5 million for an expansion of the tennis center that will add six covered courts and a clubhouse/office building that includes a restaurant overlooking the courts. The mayor has said he will commit to "covering" the development authority's debts for the tennis center and amphitheater improvements although he was an outspoken opponent of the tennis center expansion before he became mayor.
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