Wednesday, October 1, 2003
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Wednesday, October 1, 2003 |
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PTC has to pick up the pieces DAPC quits its management contract, leaving in limbo budget, 2 dozen workers By J. FRANK LYNCH
The Peachtree City Council will take the first step toward assuming management of the city's tennis center and amphitheater from the Development Authority of Peachtree City on Thursday when it considers an application for a so-called 501(c)6 tax-exempt status. The IRS designation, intended for "exemption from federal income tax as a nonprofit business league, chamber of commerce, real estate board, board of trade, or professional football league," is necessary for the city to collect hotel-motel tax revenue earmarked for operation of the venues, said Betsy Tyler, public information specialist with the city. "It's our understanding that we need to legally set that up in order to run those facilities," said Tyler. "It's the funding mechanism we need to have in place." The Development Authority of Peachtree City had been receiving a cut of the hotel-motel monies as just such a nonprofit, with most of the revenue used just to maintain the authority's debt service, said Tyler. The bulk of actual operating costs were supposed to be funded from ticket sales at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater and membership fees at the Peachtree City Tennis Center. Those kinds of financial uncertainties are the type city officials have been addressing since last Thursday night, when the DAPC dropped a bombshell into the lap of Mayor Steve Brown and the unsuspecting City Council by voting 5-0 to give up management of the city-owned facilities effective Oct. 30. The DAPC also accepted the resignation of its executive director, Virgil Christian, who managed both venues while operating the tennis center pro shop as his own private business, but utilizing DAPC employees, as detailed in a resignation letter last Tuesday from DAPC Vice Chairman Scott Bradshaw. For nearly two years, Brown has waged a campaign to make the authority accountable for what he claimed were gross mismanagement practices and cost overruns associated with expansion of the Tennis Center, but he didn't expect the DAPC and its chairman, Tate Godrey, to quit altogether, taking advantage of an "out" clause in its contract with the city. That option, to hand the facilities back over to the city council, had been under consideration for several weeks, DAPC Attorney Mark Oldenburg confirmed, but it was hastened by the Sept. 23 resignation of DAPC Vice-Chairman Bradshaw. The DAPC had given no public hint it was considering resigning its major function, and city officials were caught open-mouthed at the development. In his resignation letter that brought on a firestorm of criticism, Bradshaw outlined a series of actions by the DAPC and Christian, including a marketing agreement Christian signed on behalf of the DAPC with Adidas promising pro shop sales of $366,000 over five years. City Manager Bernard McMullen made the rounds Friday morning, just hours after the DAPC voted to sever ties, meeting with employees to reassure them that the city's best interest was to continue to provide the same level of services at both venues. For now, workers at either of the two venues will stay on as city employees. He also met briefly with city hall staffers on what the impact of taking on the tennis center and amphitheater will mean to them, and to develop a transition plan. "Our desire is to keep the venues open and continue to serve the citizens of Peachtree City," McMullen said. "We are collecting information and will look at the status of operations at the venues before any decision are made." McMullen, on the job since late spring, was in and out of meetings all day on Monday, most about the DAPC transfer. The council will receive a full update on transition progress Thursday night. They are also expected to give final approval to a 17.4 percent hike in property taxes to finance the FY '04 budget of $27 million, which goes into effect Oct. 1. That spending plan, already called the leanest in city history, was negotiated before the bombshell DAPC decision and does not address the additional expenses the shift might require of the city. Final public hearings on the millage rate increase are set Thursday at 7:30 a.m. and again at 7 p.m. preceding the regular council meeting.
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