Councilman Imker: Sam’s Club not hurting PTC

Contrary to popular belief, Peachtree City isn’t losing that much in sales tax money when residents go shopping at the nearby Sam’s Club, according to Peachtree City Councilman Eric Imker.

At Monday’s city budget meeting, Imker explained that he calculated that the city might be losing about $100,000 a year in sales tax revenue.

“It’s not the end of the world folks,” Imker said.

Imker based his calculations in part on revenue figures he got from Sam’s Club representatives and also on how sales taxes are calculated in Fayette County. For the exercise Imker said he estimated that Peachtree City residents account for about half of the store’s revenue each day.

“$100,000 a year is not that big a hit when you think about the big picture,” Imker said. “… I’d rather them have the issue with traffic problems it generates rather than Peachtree City.”

The city has taken a brutal hit on local option sales taxes as spending has trended down in the past few years due to the recession, Imker said. Some five years ago the city had sales tax revenues reaching $9 million a year, but since then it has dropped down to about $6 million a year, Imker said.