Wednesday, October 23, 2002
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Wednesday, October 23, 2002 |
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PTC drops out of tax equity suit against Fayette County By JOHN
MUNFORD
The Peachtree City City Council has decided to dismiss its lawsuit against the Fayette County Commission over alleged tax inequities. The action was approved 4-0 with Councilman Steve Rapson absent at a specially called meeting Monday morning. This leaves Tyrone as the only local municipality in the lawsuit; Fayetteville dropped out of the suit earlier this year. The lawsuit claimed that Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone residents were overtaxed by the county for services they already receive from the city. In a press release issued Monday, Peachtree City and Fayette County officials cited a need to have good working relations between the two governing bodies. "In this time of regionally impacted funding and programs from the state, we need to work together in ensuring that we do not get mangled in the process," said Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown. "Our talks have gone well and we have addressed some key issues with a positive attitude." "This resolution will serve as a foundation for an ongoing positive working relationship between our two entities," said County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn. The City Council and County Commission have yet to work out a separate required agreement on how the county's local option sales tax (LOST) funds will be distributed. The county wants to increase its share of the LOST revenues by 2.5 percent, which could cost Peachtree City an estimated $400,000 in revenues. Officials cited several efforts from both the City Council and the County Commission in the past nine months to ease the adversarial relationship of the lawsuit. Earlier this year, Peachtree City executed the jail agreement with the county which spells out how much the city will be charged per day for housing inmates at the jail. City officials have also worked on adopting jail impact fees to help fund construction of the new jail facility. The city is also allowing the county to use Drake Field as an access point to dredge Lake Peachtree; some of the dredged material will be stored in future landscaping of the park. The County Commission, meanwhile, has agreed to perform resurfacing projects for Peachtree City, which will save an estimated $200,000 normal spent for contractor equipment and labor. The county has also increased its annual grant for recreation facilities open to all county residents from $50,000 to $150,000. County officials have also pledged to covert the Fayette County Water Department's Kelly Drive storage facility to a park once its new storage facility at the nearby water treatment plant is completed.
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