Wednesday, July 30, 2003

[Editor's note: The following was a reply to a person seeking information on rumored cuts in the Peachtree City personnel budget.]

I cannot imagine us killing both COLA and merit [pay increases for city workers]. For me, one would certainly have to stay. The catastrophic City Council vote of 2000 is still haunting us. They voted to raise the city-wide pay scale and add nearly 15 new positions (mainly in the fire department) and at the same time rolled the millage rate back. So that made 2001 the first time in the city's history that expenditures exceeded revenues.

In voting on the 2002 budget the Lenox administration admitted to the press that they made a mistake and added a meager 4 percent tax increase for the 2002 budget, not nearly enough to rectify the damage.

Next enters an economy in sharp decline and 9/11 and sales tax revenues (our largest source of revenue) falls off the charts. Out of desperation, the council had to make some drastic mid-year cuts in the budget in 2002. There is no more meat left on those bones.

The city has fallen off at about $1 million per year for the last three years since the catastrophic 2000 council vote.

There are only two council members remaining from the 2000 vote. One is probably going to do the right thing. The other is running for re-election and is crowing those magic electoral buzz words, "no new taxes" and "cut staffing" without once remembering how we got to where we are.

He also announced that he wanted to cut our code enforcement staff in half after one of his campaign supporters complained to him via e-mail that the enforcement staff was making him comply with city ordinances on his commercial site. As the city ages, code enforcement will be our most important department.

We have one of the lowest employee to citizen ratios in metro Atlanta and we still come out ahead in appearance, safety and efficiency. Our city will go into sharp decline if we make staffing cuts.

With average rainfall, our public works department cannot keep up with the grass cutting and keep medians weeded now. We have had a hiring freeze for the past two years. I will oppose layoffs with every ounce of my being. However, I have to take a very serious look at everything else.

Steve Brown, Mayor

Peachtree City