Peachtree City residents will have to fork over $12 every five years to register their golf carts, thanks to a vote of the City Council Thursday night.

Council also ruled that cart owners must sign a document acknowledging their potential liability for operating carts unsafely.

The impetus for the new registration program is so the city will have more current information on who owns golf carts. The process will begin in February with notices sent to businesses owning golf carts, and in March staff will notify owners of carts with numbers from 1 to 4000. Staff will then handle the remainder of the monthly notices in increments of 1,000 from April to September.

Previously the city only required residents to register their cart once, at a cost of $10, with an additional $5 charge for transferring a golf cart registration once a registered cart was sold. That process resulted in outdated, stagnant and incorrect information on the city’s database of who owns which specific golf cart, officials said, surmising that many folks didn’t notify the city when they sold their carts.

The old info often stymies police officers investigating reports of reckless golf cart driving and stolen carts in particular, according to Police Chief James Murray.

City spokesperson Betsy Tyler said the new $12 fee was developed so the program would not cost the city unbudgeted money, but it’s hard to gauge the figures since no one is sure exactly how many carts are being used in the city. In any event, once the costs of the program are met, all other proceeds will go towards improvements to the cart path system, she said.

The decals will have different colors for every five-year cycle so police can easily tell if the registration is current or not. Council gave a break to golf cart dealers, who will not be required to purchase decals for golf carts they acquire, but the dealers will be required to provide seller information to the city when a cart is sold.

Anyone who fails to register a golf cart within 10 business days of its purchase will be assessed a $20 penalty in addition to the registration fee, according to the new ordinance. Also, while the non-resident fee remains at $60 per year, any transfer of such a cart will cost $17 instead of the previous amount of $5.

City staff is also developing a new brochure that will be handed out to cart owners who re-register that explains the rules of the path, particularly the use of an audible or verbal signal such as a bell (or an “excuse me!”) to warn pedestrians when approaching them from behind.

Councilman Steve Boone said he has gotten many complaints from senior citizens and walkers about young golf cart drivers who speed past others on the cart path with no warning while driving recklessly.

Tyler assured Boone that such problems aren’t limited to the youth of the community, as some adults also drive inappropriately on the paths.

Mayor Harold Logsdon said he wanted staff to look into whether or not the city should require citizens to have an insurance policy on their golf carts.

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