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PTC budget hike shrinks; more cuts to come?

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The millage rate increase proposed for Peachtree City’s upcoming budget has been trimmed from .26 to .11 with revisions proposed by city staff.

At the city council’s first budget meeting last week, Councilman Steve Rapson proposed several more cuts that would allow the city to keep the millage rate the same, which would still equal to a property tax increase because of the annual increases on property valuations.

Beyond the city’s control, the Fayette County Board of Tax Assessors notified most property owners that their assets had increased in taxable value over last year. Thus, even an unchanged tax rate this year on a given piece of property will produce a bigger tax bill for that parcel.

Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford said she wants to see if the city can cut some more from the budget to negate the tax increase; doing so will require a millage rate rollback.

The budget features 10 new full-time employees, including three firefighters, three police officers and an assistant fire marshal.

Rutherford asked if the county’s sheriff’s department could take over the resource officer programs at Peachtree City schools currently served by the police department.

Police Chief James Murray said he preferred to have his officers do the work because of the many benefits of the resource officer program, particularly the interaction between the officers and students.

Murray said the three new officer positions were needed to cover the continuing residential and commercial growth of the “west side.” Murray said he decided to forego a request to have a captain-level position added this year because he felt the three officer-level positions were more important.

Likewise, Fire Chief Stony Lohr had to explain his request for three firefighters and a fourth position: assistant fire marshal. A manpower shortage in the firefighting ranks for one shift can force temporary closure of a fire station because at least two firefighters must be on each fire truck dispatched to a call, Lohr noted.

Although the city has a volunteer fire department, its ranks have dwindled in recent years as more people are unavailable during the day since they work outside of Peachtree City, Lohr said. An average of 2.34 volunteers showed up for each call in a recent survey of department statistics, Lohr added.

While the department utilizes part-time personnel, they have regular full-time jobs that often make them unavailable, the chief added.

On a fire scene, six firefighting personnel must be on hand before the blaze can be fought, Lohr noted.

The assistant fire marshal is needed because the current fire marshal is unable to keep pace with inspections as needed, Lohr said.

“We’re in a reactive mode,” Lohr said, adding that other personnel have been trained to perform fire inspections when necessary.

Rapson recommended increasing non-property tax revenue projections by $248,000, cutting the city’s healthcare budget by $125,000 and cutting $168,000 from the PIP contingency fund for the intersection realignment of Huddleston and Dividend Drives. He also proposes an additional $45,000 in cuts on several line items while increasing the amount of golf cart path supplies by $50,000.

“The top complaint we receive on a monthly basis is on the condition of our cart paths,” noted Mayor Steve Brown, adding that the city has been able to dramatically increase its work in that area recently.

Originally, the recommended millage rate increase of .26 was to cover payments on construction of the library expansion which was approved by voters last year, city staff said.