By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Are residents of Fayette's cities getting as much from the county in services as they are paying in taxes?

The answer depends upon who is crunching the numbers.

County and city representatives Monday tentatively decided to consider hiring an outside expert to get a more objective reading after county manager Billy Beckett reported that the county's finance office came up with a completely different answer than the one arrived at by Peachtree City and Tyrone officials.

“All of us are looking at it through our own eyes,” said Beckett during a meeting of the county's FUTURE (Fayette United Team to Use Resources Effectively) committee. “We're not going to come up with an objective analysis.”

The committee, composed of appointed and elected representatives of Fayette and its five municipalities, has been working for two years to find ways the county and cities can cooperate to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Complying with a new state law, HB 489, which requires cooperative agreements between counties and cities, is part of FUTURE's mission.

The question of whether city residents are receiving services equal to the taxes they pay Fayette County leaped into public discussion when Tyrone Town Councilman Ronnie Cannon charged during a council meeting that the town's residents pay $400,000 a year more in taxes than they receive in services.

Peachtree City officials studied the question and determined that their residents are shortchanged by $2.5 million, said Mayor Bob Lenox.

“We're not saying this is the exact number,” said Lenox Monday, “but we're saying this is a logical framework” for discussing the matter. “In our opinion the citizens of Peachtree City are subsidizing the citizens of the county,” he said. “That's not a tolerable nor an equitable situation for the citizens of Peachtree City.”

“Our data suggest the cities are getting more than their fair share,” said Beckett, adding that the city study doesn't take into account “indirect” services such as use of county roads, only direct services like county participation in city construction projects.

Lenox and other city representatives said they want to move quickly to get an independent expert to address the question.

“If there is a parity here, I want to know it,” said Lenox. If not, he added, “I want to figure out how it is we're going to move toward achieving parity.”

Peachtree City's study suggests that, out of the county's $29.5 million budget, Peachtree City residents provide $8.1 million in property taxes and other fees, and receive $5.7 million in services.

Fayetteville pays $2.7 million and receives $2.4 million in service, the study says, and Tyrone pays $875,511 and receives $654,560 in services.

The study doesn't provide figures for Brooks and Woolsey.

A similar study conducted by Fayette's finance office starts by discounting $3.8 million in service-specific revenues and expenses. Those are services such as Fayette County's fire service, for which taxes are collected only in the district where services are received.

Of the remaining $25.6 million in revenues, $15.6 million comes from unincorporated residents and $10.11 million from the cities, the county study says.

The county figures, which break down expenditures into eight categories and 45 subcategories, suggest that the cities receive $10.16 million in services, just over the $10.11 million they pay.

Peachtree City receives $6.63 million; Fayetteville $2.52 million and Tyrone $1.01 million in services, the county study reports. The county study does not break out revenues by individual cities.

County and cities have agreed on several plans for service delivery, but could not agree in four areas: recreation, law enforcement, public works and fire services.

The state Department of Community Affairs has approved Fayette's joint service agreements, including its plan to come to agreement on the four sticking points by the end of 2000, but city leaders at the table Monday indicated they want to move a lot faster than that.

“This is a hot button for me,” said Lenox.

FUTURE members agreed to come up with a list of names of experts who could do an independent study, and have a meeting next month to decide whose name they should carry back to their respective boards for a final decision.

Coming to agreement on the four areas of disagreement should be easy once the central question of taxes paid versus services received is answered, said Fayetteville Mayor Mike Wheat.

Those present tentatively agreed to shoot for receiving a report from the outside expert by March or April in hopes of coming up with a final agreement by July or August.