A change to Peachtree City’s hotel-motel tax structure could result in a $128,000 addition to the city’s general fund.
But that money has to come from somewhere else, and in this case it’s the city’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and also the Peachtree City
Airport Authority.
The CVB would lose $89,618 while the airport authority would lose $38,408, based on estimated hotel-motel tax revenues.
Mayor Don Haddix suggested at Thursday’s council meeting that the city could simply shift funding for certain CVB and airport projects from its take that goes to the general fund. But CVB Director Nancy Price said she was concerned about how to make up that much of a loss to her budget.
Haddix said he opposes increasing the current hotel-motel tax rate from 6 percent to either 7 or 8 percent. The hotel-motel tax structure can be changed even without increasing the rate, but doing so will require approval of the Georgia Legislature.
Councilman Eric Imker noted that the city could raise it back to 7 percent — the city shrank it to 6 percent at the request of hotels last spring — and that would alleviate all concerns while also giving city property taxes a $132,000 break from the budget in the city’s general fund.
Councilwoman Vanessa Fleisch said she was concerned with taking hotel-motel tax revenues and putting some in the city’s general fund. She also opposed raising the tax rate.
“We are competing against Coweta County at 5 percent and Fairburn and Fulton County at 7 percent, so I think we need to leave it as it exists,” Fleisch said.
Councilwoman Kim Learnard also was wary of the need to change the city’s hotel-motel tax structure in order to beef up the general fund.
Haddix argued that changing the tax structure would allow the city to have more flexibility in the types of projects CVB can pursue. But Price told council that she thinks CVB already has “considerable flexibility” in that regard.
Council ultimately tabled the matter so more research could be conducted and so council members could speak with Price and airport officials about the matter.
The discussion was tabled on a 4-1 vote with Imker voting against.
