On a 4-1 vote Thursday night the Peachtree City Council adopted a new structure for the city’s hotel-motel tax rate that will steer an extra $130,000 to the city’s general fund.
Councilman Eric Imker said that will allow the city to shave $130,000 off the general fund budget and translate that into a decrease in property taxes,
at the very least by shrinking a projected need for a tax increase.
A subsequent 3-2 council vote to raise the tax rate from 6 to 7 percent will prevent a shortfall in funds to the city’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau that was projected to have occurred had the rate remained at the 6 percent level with the new change.
Councilwoman Vanessa Fleisch voted against the new hotel-motel tax structure, saying it would handcuff local hoteliers as they compete for corporate events and the like.
The restructuring and increase in the hotel-motel tax is contingent upon legislation being approved by the Georgia General Assembly.
Imker noted that a hotel-motel tax rate is not a factor in people’s decisions on where to stay.
“We’re looking to try and save $390,000 to avoid a tax increase,” Imker said. “This will be $130,000 of that.”
Imker acknowledged that he was shifting a part of the city’s tax burden to visitors.
Mayor Don Haddix said he supported the hotel-motel tax restructuring because of the added flexibility it gives the city’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to spend money on projects such as golf cart paths or an amphitheater or sports center.
Haddix, however, joined councilman Doug Sturbaum in voting against the increase of the tax from 6 to 7 percent.*
* Note: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect accounting of the vote on the tax increase. The sentence in bold represents the correct information.
