Despite the struggling economy, several Peachtree City residents told the city council Thursday night that they support a property tax increase of .244 mills.

The increase would cost an additional $24.40 on the property tax bill of a home valued at $250,000.

Two residents said the strongly opposed a tax increase and instead would rather see the city make up the $451,000 difference from the city’s cash reserves, which are currently at $9.4 million representing 36 percent of the city’s annual expenditures.

The city’s agreed-upon target for cash reserves is 20 percent.

Resident Robert Brown said he felt the reserves were needed “to get us through down periods.”

“I don’t think we need to raise taxes to keep reserves at a substantially higher amount than what the city council sets as a minimum,” Brown said.

Resident Bob Walsh, who is running for a seat on the city council, said that even though the tax increase is “very small” it made more sense to take money out of the city surplus to avoid the tax increase. He also noted the cutbacks in city services particularly in the landscaping area.

“Take some money out of the surplus and let’s get through these economic times,” Welsh said.

Mayor Harold Logsdon, who was not present at Thursday’s council meeting, has said several times that he supports the use of cash reserves to avoid a property tax increase.

Property taxes and sales taxes are the two largest sources of income for Peachtree City. With the struggling economy, sales tax revenues have dropped significantly. The economy was blamed for the city letting go 24 employees earlier this year, most of whom were employed as landscapers.

Resident Darlene Gulli said she thinks the city should raise taxes even more to restore raises for city employees. While the city cannot do that at this late date, its possible the council could vote to take money out of its reserves to fund the cost of living raises, a stance advocated by Councilman Don Haddix.

The cost of living raises would cost the city approximately $270,000.

Haddix said even with the property tax increase, he still envisions the city dipping into its reserves for the coming year just because the economy isn’t likely to improve.

Council is hosting a called meeting Thursday, Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. to take more comment on the proposed millage rate. Council is also expected to vote on the millage rate at that same meeting.