Wednesday, April 28, 2004

PTC mayor wants bigger slice of road tax By JOHN THOMPSON jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com and By J. FRANK LYNCH jflynch@theCitizenNews.com As the clock ticks down toward Fayette County’s efforts to call for a SPLOST vote in the fall, one municipality stands in the way of presenting a united front to the voters. The municipality is Peachtree City, and last week County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn and County Administrator Chris Cofty met with Peachtree City officials to try and iron out differences. But it doesn’t appear any compromise is going to happen anytime soon. “There really wasn’t movement on Peachtree City’s side,” said County Commission Greg Dunn after last Thursday’s meeting. The sticking point is the amount of money for Peachtree City to spend on transportation projects. For months, Mayor Steve Brown has been adamant in his assertion that Peachtree City would not receive its rightful share of funds if the SPLOST is passed. He first raised objections when all the local governments gathered to create a list of the county’s top 10 transportation projects. Brown let it be known that he was upset that no Peachtree City projects were on the list, and has spoken against the SPLOST for the last few months. At a recent meeting of the Association of Fayette County Governments, every municipality except Peachtree City advocated a 70-30 split of the estimated $124 million the SPLOST would generate over six years. The proposal for dividing millions in revenue would have the largest amount going to fund Phase I of the Fayette County Master Transportation Plan. The remaining 30 percent would be divided between five jurisdictions based on population: Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Tyrone and Brooks, and the unincorporated areas of the county. Those funds could be used by each jurisdiction to fund local road projects like resurfacing, intersection improvements, safety projects, greenways and sidewalks. With Peachtree City’s cooperation, the SPLOST will be in effect for six years. Without the city in agreement, the county and other governments can only enact it for five years. The difference in revenue, county leaders estimate, will be about $20 million. Over six years, the SPLOST is predicted to bring in $124 million. Based on the proposed 70-30 split, here is how the revenue would be dispersed: • $86,836.147 — County Transportation Plan • $17,967,639.25 — Fayette County local share, improvements to unincorporated areas • $12,876,560.02 — Peachtree City local share • $4,547,733.05 — Fayetteville local share • $1,596,544.58 — Tyrone local share • $227,014.50 — Brooks local share Constructing an East Fayette Bypass to relieve traffic in downtown Fayetteville remains the top project on Dunn’s priorities list. Brown insists such a road would have little benefit to Peachtree City residents and wants a greater share of the revenue should voters approve the measure. Brown initially wanted a straight split of the revenue based on population, declaring that Peachtree City deserved 35 percent of the total because it was home to 35,000 of Fayette’s estimated 100,000 people. Peachtree City Manager Bernie McMullen said there are no further meetings scheduled between the two governments. When asked if Peachtree City would try and defeat the SPLOST referendum, McMullen said there was only so much city leaders could do. “I know there’s ethics laws involved and you can’t use city money to campaign against it,” he said. The city manager did say it was a possibility the Peachtree City Council could possibly take a vote on supporting the penny sales tax hike.