Wednesday, November 20, 2002
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Wednesday, November 20, 2002 |
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Development board, PTC close to accord By JOHN MUNFORD
The Development Authority of Peachtree City has approved a new agreement that would reduce its share of the city's hotel-motel tax, which it uses to subsidize operation of the city's tennis center and amphitheater. If the arrangement is approved by the City Council, the authority would receive $180,000 in hotel-motel tax funds for the current fiscal year, a cut of $85,000 from the $265,000 amount set by the current agreement. "We feel $180,000 is a realistic number," said authority member Brian Palmitessa. Authority member Scott Bradshaw said the authority may have to raise ticket prices for the summer concert series and court fees at the tennis center to make up for the loss in hotel-motel tax funds. The majority of both facilities' budgets comes from ticket revenues, sponsorships, memberships and court fees. Under the new agreement, the authority's hotel-motel tax funds for next year would be capped at $140,000, but the amount would be based on 15.113 percent of the hotel-motel tax revenues collected by the city, according to the agreement. For the third year of the agreement, the authority will set a goal of reducing the funding to a maximum of $100,000. After that, the funding amount would be renegotiated. The agreement also stipulates that the city would take over the authority's indebtedness of up to $1.456 million, financing that amount in payments of up to $75,000 a year. In return, the authority agrees not to take on any more debt without approval from the City Council. The agreement allows the authority to get a short-term 90-day line of credit up to $180,000 to finance deposits for acts that will appear in the amphitheater's summer concert series. The authority pays back that temporary loan once it receives its revenue for ticket sales, Palmitessa said. Bradshaw pointed out that the authority's current long-term debt funded capital improvements and operations of both the amphitheater and tennis center, which are both owned by the city. Any new improvements or renovations to the amphitheater or tennis center would have to be funded by the council, said Virgil Christian, the authority's executive director. The vote to approve the new agreement was unanimous, with chairman Tate Godfrey absent. The new agreement would be automatically renewed each year unless either party gives written notice at least 90 days prior that it wishes to let the agreement lapse. The new agreement does not address how much funding the authority will receive from the city for economic development, which Mayor Steve Brown has said was what he wanted the authority to focus on. "That all depends on what their vision is for us," said authority member Robert Brooks, who participated in the negotiations along with authority members Doug Warner and Palmitessa and council members Dan Tennant and Murray Weed. The authority subcommittee also met twice with Mayor Brown to resolve the issues addressed in the new agreement, Brooks said. A key element not in the agreement is the subcommittee's plan to meet quarterly with council members to keep them aware of what is going on with the authority, Brooks said. Next year, when the authority's funding would revert to a percentage of the hotel-motel taxes collected by the city, the authority would need to plan its budget to reflect the seasonal trends of the revenue stream, Brooks said. City council members want to make sure the city doesn't have to use money from the general fund to operate the tennis center or amphitheater, Brooks said. Christian said he felt the authority could cut its budgets for the tennis center and amphitheater to meet the reduced funding levels. "I think we can do it but everything has to click," Christian said. Palmitessa said he was investigating possible financing of the authority's long-term debt that would put the annual payments under the $75,000 mark for the city. The city's airport authority, which also depends on hotel-motel tax revenues for its capital improvement program, recently approved a new hotel-motel tax agreement that the City Council will consider at its regular meeting Thursday night.
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