Peachtree City residents will have the chance to tax themselves almost directly when they head to the polls this week for early voting and next Tuesday, Nov. 6, on the traditional election day.

One of the referendum questions, if approved, would add a $4.04 million expansion of astroturfed multi-purpose sports fields that will serve the city’s soccer and football programs.

The city plans to relocate the football program there from Riley Field.

The other question asks residents if they favor a $2.88 million expansion of the city’s Gathering Place facility, which has largely served as a senior citizens center but would be expanded to be open for night and weekend usage to include other programs.

Meanwhile, the city is facing ongoing moisture problems in its police station headquarters, accepting a recent bid of $593,000 for repairs on moisture seepage that won’t address other problems such as roof leaks and deteriorating facia. One city council member suggested the city scrap the current headquarters, opened in 2001, and build a new building at another location on city-owned property.

City officials have acknowledged that the moisture repairs could cost more depending on what the contractor finds once the work begins.

Financed over 10 years, the soccer complex payments will be $554,000 a year and maintenance will cost another $29,000 a year. The Gathering Place expansion will cost $373,000 a year and cost another $196,000 to operate and maintain.

For each $100,000 of a home’s assessed value, the sports fields would cost an extra $11.45 per year in taxes, and the Gathering Place expansion would cost $11.78 for each $100,000 of a home’s assessed value.

Critics of the Gathering Place expansion have argued that the city would not be getting the best bang for its buck under the proposal on the ballot given the small amount of people who currently use the Gathering Place.

Opponents of the sports field expansion have said the facility would be too extravagant and in the case of the youth football program that far too many participants are from Coweta County, thereby creating the overcrowding issue the program currently experiences.

The sports fields would be used for the city’s soccer and football programs, the latter of which would be relocated from Riley Field in north Peachtree City.

Because the fields would have a drainage system, they could be played on sooner after a rainstorm than a regular turf field, enhancing the city’s ability to host tournaments, city officials have said.

The Gathering Place expansion, at more than 11,000 square feet, would allow the facility to be used as a community center instead of just a senior citizen’s center, City Leisure Services Director Randy Gaddo has said.

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