Wednesday, November 6, 2002
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Wednesday, November 6, 2002 |
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Peace pact near in PTC By JOHN MUNFORD
Peachtree City's Airport Authority and City Council may be very close to a new agreement about the distribution of hotel-motel tax revenues to fund projects at Falcon Field. The authority authorized Chairwoman Cathy Nelmes to sign a new intergovernmental agreement that would set the authority's share at a fixed 13.3 percent of the total amount of hotel-motel tax revenues collected by the city. Under the current agreement, the authority gets a flat amount of $120,000 per year. The new agreement would provide that amount if the city reaches its projections for the hotel-motel tax revenues this year. The new agreement will be considered for approval by the City Council at its regular meeting Thursday night. Officials from both sides of the negotiations lauded the agreement and the cooperation from both sides. Nelmes and authority member Doug Fisher hammered out details of the deal with council members Annie McMenamin and Steve Rapson. "They were wonderful to work with in resolving the issue," Nelmes said. "We have an agreement that works for the city and the airport." Rapson said he felt council would be receptive to approving the new agreement. "I an extremely pleased with the level of cooperation that the Airport Authority, especially Cathy Nelmes, have given City Council," Rapson said. "I appreciate their willingness to work together and develop a contract that will truly serve the best interests of Peachtree City. The current hotel-motel tax agreement was executed last year but called into question earlier this year by several council members who claimed the agreement signed by then-mayor Bob Lenox was invalid because it was significantly different from the one council authorized him to sign. The new agreement ends Sept. 30, 2004 the end of Peachtree City's 2004 fiscal year but it will automatically be renewed annually unless either party provides written notice at least 90 days prior to the renewal date, said Airport Manager Jim Savage. That allows the new City Council to have control over the hotel-motel tax distribution, which was one of the main sticking points of the negotiations. Although the current agreement spells out the amount of hotel-motel tax the authority would get for 15 years, some council members contended the agreement would actually span 30 years by Georgia law. The agreement, along with a similar one enacted last year between the council and the Development Authority of Peachtree City, was investigated by a special attorney hired by council earlier this year. The attorney's subsequent report indicated the contracts were illegal and could be struck down in court.
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