Instead of raising taxes to cover a revenue shortfall next fiscal year, Peachtree City Mayor Harold Logsdon wants to reorganize and streamline city operations to get by without a property tax increase.

Logsdon made that remark during his annual “State of the City” address to the Peachtree City Rotary Club Thursday afternoon.

“When we come out of this we will be as well organized and efficient a government as you could have,” Logsdon said, adding that the economic slowdown “is not going to last forever.”

Logsdon said the city could be short as much as 20 percent of the expected $8 million in sales tax revenues that it typically gets. Also the city may lose $360,000 normally provided by the state’s tax credit system for property owners ... and property tax revenue will go down next year likely due to reassessments as property values have declined, Logsdon added.

As a result, all city government services are being evaluated for potential changes, the mayor said.

“We are looking at new ways to provide services in a more efficient and effective manner. That is what we should be doing with your tax dollars.”

Logsdon said one of the city’s biggest successes of 2008 was the announcement that NCR would add 610 jobs and bring 120 employees here weekly, which will help the economy because those employees will stay at local hotels and eat at restaurants.

Logsdon also had good things to say about a new city program that partners with First Baptist Church of Peachtree City. The church is allowing the city to operate an after-school program at the church’s new Bridge Community Center, Logsdon said, adding that he hopes for more such “partnerships” in the future.

Logsdon also thanked the Rotary Club for the International Festival and Dragon Boat Races which the club hosts at Drake Field and Lake Peachtree.

“I am proud of the Rotary Club and what you all do. This is becoming a signature event for the city,” Logsdon said. “.. And I hope that our boat does not sink this year.”

Logsdon was referring to the inaugural boat race in 2007 in which a boat manned by city officials and employees capsized during one heat.

Logsdon also said he was pleased with the police department’s undertaking of patrols on the golf cart path system, which he said had been unpatrolled previously.

“That’s like having 90 miles of streets that are not patrolled,” Logsdon said.

Under new Police Chief Skip Clark the department has purchased two all terrain vehicles for path patrol and reassigned officers to do those patrols along with special details such as safety checks.

Logsdon took questions from the audience, one of which asked the status of the TDK road extension. While a road will be built to extend TDK to Lake McIntosh and a commercial area, it is not being extended to link with Coweta County, Logsdon said.

“That status is dead,” Logsdon said.

Logsdon also was asked about the progress of the Sany assembly facility, a Chinese company that is locating in the industrial park adjacent to Cooper Lighting. The project has been put on hold for three months as Sany, which makes heavy construction equipment, evaluates its plans in light of the economy.

Logsdon said Sany is facing a challenge on its site due to newly-enacted minimum heights because the site is so close to the runway at Falcon Field. Logsdon said those height restrictions will be maintained but he thinks Sany can changes its building engineering to accommodate the change.

Another audience member asked Logsdon about the status of the Ga. Highway 74 south road widening, which would extend from Cooper Circle to Ga. Highway 85. Logsdon said the bid process has been delayed once from its original date of March, but he hopes the bids will go out in June. Logsdon said the Department of Transportation board member for the district told him it was his top upcoming priority.

“I am guardedly optimistic,” Logsdon said.

Logsdon also shared an update on the status of completing the cart path bridge that spans over the CSX railroad parallel to Ga. Highway 54 west. He said a preliminary cost estimate of $250,000 for the city to complete the effort was not a good use of city tax dollars, but he hopes to be able to fund the project with funds from the countywide transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

Delay in completing the approach paths to the bridge, well past two years, has been due to the state and federal grant process, Logsdon said. The city learned a few months ago that the money may not be dispersed for some time ... and that’s after months of delays brought upon by state officials and their consultants in an attempt to meet grant guidelines, city officials have said.

Logsdon said another goal of his for the coming year, along with Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett, is an effort to put a positive emphasis on city activities “and try and get away from all the negative stuff that we hear.”

Logsdon also said he thinks the city is missing out on as much as $2 million in sales taxes due to usage of a paper “honor” system instead of a computerized reporting system.

“Those are not new taxes,” the mayor said, noting that they must be collected under current tax levels.

Logsdon said although Fayette has two local option sales taxes being collected at 1 percent each for the same goods, he doesn’t understand how the funds collected can be different ... and he hasn’t gotten a good explanation from the Georgia Department of Revenue.