By Monroe Roark
sports@TheCitizen.com
County officials are frustrated that they have not been able to come to a reciprocal agreement with Peachtree City concerning the use of golf carts in both jurisdictions.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Steve Brown noted at the end of Thursday night’s regular meeting that the county had received a letter from Peachtree City stating the city had no plans to amend its ordinance or enter an agreement to benefit golf carts registered in the unincorporated county.
“We are a little disappointed with that. We will still have a reciprocal agreement with Tyrone and Fayetteville,” Brown said at the meeting. “Peachtree City has a reciprocal agreement with Tyrone but they didn’t want to do it with the county. I don’t really know the justification for that, but we’ll keep working on it.”
Brown pointed out that the decision will likely result in many Peachtree City residents having to pay an out-of-jurisdiction fee to ride their golf carts in Fayette County. Failure to require this would be unfair to county residents, he said.
The county passed its own golf cart ordinance, similar to Peachtree City’s, earlier this year and that ordinance states that the county would recognized Peachtree City’s golf cart registrations if the city would recognize theirs, so cart owners would not have to pay to register in both jurisdictions (or be cited for driving an unregistered cart).
The letter to the county from City Manager James Pennington to County Administrator Steve Rapson states that all golf carts operating on the city’s paths must have a city-issued decal, and cart owners who live outside Peachtree City must pay a path user fee of $60 per year.
“This represents about $55,000 per year from path users who do not pay property taxes to support the maintenance of the path system,” Pennington wrote.
City staff has also expressed concern about law enforcement access to golf cart registration and ownership information for carts using the city-owned paths, according to the letter.
Brown said last week that the county is trying create reciprocity among all jurisdictions and wants to get the matter settled soon before county registration decals are issued, probably around October.
