Officials to discuss service delivery in meeting Monday

By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Are the residents of Fayette's cities getting their fair share of services from the county?

That question will be high on the list of topics as county and municipal representatives get together to discuss intergovernmental cooperation and efficiency Monday.

The meeting is one in a series prompted by the state legislature's passage of House Bill 489, which requires counties and cities to work together to improve efficiency and reduce taxes where possible.

City and county elected and appointed officials have been meeting for more than a year and have hammered out several cooperative agreements, but Tyrone Town Councilman Ronnie Cannon gave the discussions a new urgency recently when he complained during council meetings that Tyrone residents pay $400,000 more each year in taxes than they receive in services from the county.

Peachtree City officials later took up the refrain, claiming their residents are short-changed $2.5 million by the county.

Fayetteville officials have not chimed in with any figures, but asked recently whether they feel their city's residents' also receive less than they fair share from the county, City Council members nodded in the affirmative.

Cannon says he has figures to prove his case.

County manager Billy Beckett declined to discuss the allegations prior to the meeting, but said he and county elected officials will be ready to address the subject Monday.

To answer the question properly, he said, it's not enough to look at dollars and cents. An overall philosophy of government also must be addressed, he said. “If you try to treat this thing other than in a holistic fashion, we might as well all be islands,” Beckett said.

County and city representatives will meet at 8:30 a.m. at Heritage Bank on Jeff Davis Drive in Fayetteville. The only other topic on the agenda is the Board of Education's sales tax referendum scheduled for Sept. 21.