Wednesday, August 13, 2003
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Wednesday, August 13, 2003 |
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PTC eyes rate hike to maintain current budget By J. FRANK LYNCH Peachtree City taxpayers who want to see what all the fuss has been about regarding the proposed FY04 budget can download the document off the city's web page for personal inspection. Hard copies are also available at City Hall. And residents who are especially civic-minded may choose to attend Thursday night's hearing. At $27.89 million, the '04 budget is actually slightly lower than the current year's $27.9 million. According to city financial services director Paul Salvatore, the budget contains good news for the city's 225 employees: They will be getting a 2 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) in their salaries come October, the beginning of the city's fiscal year. The expense isn't just a reward for providing a host of city services at peak efficiency, said Salvatore, but also keeps the city on track for staying within the 70th percentile of municipal salaries nationwide. Another chunk of change is the money in the Public Improvement Project account, most of which is intended for highway roadside beautification work whenever the Ga. Highway 54 West widening gets started. "Last year in order to balance the budget we used a lot of onetime revenue sources," said Salvatore. "We came in this year knowing what we went through last year and we didn't want to repeat that. We were so lean on our current year budget that the new city manager was surprised at how little we operated on." As a solution, the city is proposing an increase in the tax rate to 5.71 millage, Salvatore said, less than a full 1 mill rate hike but enough to meet all program needs once some deep and sacrificial cuts were made throughout the city. For example, the Update city newsletter will no longer be mailed to residents, saving $30,000 a year. And Salvatore is still studying the revenue potential from changing the city's court fees and fine structure, an idea first tossed out during brainstorming sessions last month. While nobody in the city wants to commit to operating city services based on the number of traffic tickets the police hand out, Salvatore said the time is right to adjust some of those costs. "When I first came in here three years ago, I did a study to see if where we were with our fee structure, and I committed to taking a look at that again every three years," he said. But even if a windfall comes along later in the year due to fee changes, Salvatore said it's a new day for Peachtree City's budget writers. "We've got to learn with the concept: How do you do more with less?" The budget hearing will lead off the regular third Thursday city council meeting and starts at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
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