Facing a continued downturn in sales tax collections and nearly stagnant growth in the tax digest, Peachtree City officials are looking at cuts to make in the current 2008 budget, City Finance Director Paul Salvatore told the City Council last week.

Those cuts could be presented to the City Council for a vote at the next regularly scheduled council meeting on April 21, Salvatore noted. The vote would be on actual proposed amendments to the budget, he explained.

The cuts are being developed by finance staff in conjunction with the city’s department heads and chiefs, Salvatore said. In addition to a significantly stunted tax digest this year, the city also is recording a consistent 10 percent decrease in its projections for sales tax revenues, Salvatore said after the meeting.

There is some economic good news for the city though, as the city’s hotel-motel tax revenues are still going strong, he added.

Salvatore also said the city’s eye on increasing fees for various services was not undertaken in response to the economic downturn. Rather, it’s required by city policy to review its fees every several years to keep the city in line with fees charged by other jurisdictions, Salvatore said.

“It’s good prudent financial practice,” Salvatore said.

In developing the fee recommendations, the city has looked at what other cities of similar size are charging for their fees, Salvatore said. Also taken into account was the increasing workload on the city’s developmental services division, which has been performing more and more reviews on plans that are submitted but aren’t finalized, according to City Planner David Rast.