Friday, May 21, 2004

County agrees to give Newnan more sales tax funds By JOHN THOMPSON jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com The city of Newnan got a small windfall last week from the Coweta County Commission. County officials agreed to increase by $100,000 the amount the city would receive this year from sales tax funds. County administrator Theron Gay said the county and cities are required to look at the allocation of sales tax funds every 10 years, but Coweta County examines the issue more frequently. "Historically, we go back and adjust the funds because of our rapidly growing population," he said. When Census figures were released for 2000, it showed that Coweta County has grown more rapidly than Newnan, so the county and city agreed to cut NewnanÕs percentage of the sales tax funds from 27 percent to 21 percent. But the county also agreed that Newnan would be guaranteed to receive at least the same amount in funds as they did in 2002, which was nearly $4 million. "We explained to them that as the sales tax dollars increase, their 21 percent share will eventually give them more than they are getting now," Gay said. But in the interim, the city did not want to be short-changed on any projects that were funded through the sales tax dollars. As projections started rolling in this year, Newnan officials realize they would be pretty close to the $4 million mark. "Commissioner Hunter suggested the board increase the cap by $100,000, so the city would be right on target," Gay said. While the county has no plans to increase the city's percentage, Gay said the county will look at the issue later in the year.