The $100 Question: How Low Can Peachtree City’s Taxes Really Go?

With election season in full swing, several candidates are making promises about reducing property taxes in Peachtree City. For example, at a recent City Council meeting, former mayor Steve Brown boldly claimed there are “several paths” to lower the millage rate.

That caught my attention. In an email, I asked him what those paths were. Brown declined to provide details, saying only that he would “share some of those ideas” when The Citizen released its official candidate questionnaire. But when that feature was published, he offered no specific ideas for reducing taxes. So I turned to someone who could walk through the numbers—Peachtree City’s Financial and Administrative Services Director Kelly Bush. 

Over nearly an hour, we reviewed the city’s $57.9 million FY26 budget. Bush has worked in municipal finance for more than three decades across multiple Georgia jurisdictions. She joined Peachtree City 12 years ago, serving 11 years as assistant finance director before becoming director in January 2025. She knows what disciplined budgeting looks like—and what happens when cities lose that discipline.

How the Budget Gets Built

The city’s annual budget process begins in the spring, long before any public debate. Each department submits detailed requests based on what it takes to maintain service levels. From there, Bush and City Manager Justin Strickland meet with every department head to review every line item.

“The city manager and I go through every department’s budget, line by line,” Bush explained. “We talk about what’s reasonable, what can wait, where they can save. If there’s something that doesn’t fit, it comes out.”

The finance team also builds in an efficiency factor of about 1.5%—a planned savings target across all departments. “We expect savings from diligent purchasing and salary turnover,” she said. “We budget realistically, but we don’t overinflate.”

Peachtree City doesn’t fund outside organizations beyond a few mission-aligned partnerships, such as Keep Peachtree City Beautiful and Fayette Senior Services. “They provide services for our citizens. That’s it,” Bush said. “We’re not the federal government. We don’t give away money to non-government organizations.”

The result is a budget process that is lean and transparent. Bush doesn’t dismiss the possibility of finding new efficiencies, but she notes that the city already renegotiates contracts, pursues grants, and hunts for cost savings wherever possible. “These efforts save thousands, not millions,” she said. “They’re good management practices, not substitutes for tax revenue.”

Those small efficiencies matter. But they only go so far. That’s why Bush bristles when people suggest there’s an easy fix hiding somewhere in the budget.

“There isn’t a pile of waste hiding somewhere,” Bush said plainly. “If you cut much further, you’re cutting people, vehicles, or maintenance.” She added, “When people say ‘cut waste,’ I want to ask them to show me where it is. Because we’ve already done that work.”

Where Your Money Goes

When asked which services are most essential, Bush described a clear hierarchy. Non-negotiable core services, she said, include public safety, the staff who support those departments, protective inspections such as building permits and code enforcement, and public works.

That hierarchy is reflected in the city’s FY26 budget. Nearly half of the general fund—46.4%, or $26.9 million—supports public safety, including police, fire, and EMS. Another large share goes to Public Works, which maintains the city’s critical infrastructure. Once you include insurance, debt service, and administration, more than three-quarters of Peachtree City’s $57.9 million general fund is already committed to essential operations.

To fund those core services, property taxes generate about $23.7 million in revenue. The remainder comes from a mix of Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) proceeds, building permits, licenses, service charges, fines, and investment income from reserves.

Beyond that core, Bush said, are the amenities that give Peachtree City its distinctive quality of life—parks, recreation programs, and the 100-plus miles of paths that residents enjoy every day.

What You Actually Get for Your Money

The typical Peachtree City home (assessed at around $508,000) pays roughly $6,000 in total property taxes each year. Of that, about $1,200 goes to the city (dropping to about $1,187 after this year’s rollback). The bulk, about $4,000, goes to Fayette County Schools, with the remainder going to county government.

That means the city portion of your tax bill works out to about $99 per month after this year’s rollback.

But there’s an important distinction between Peachtree City and neighboring municipalities. “The other cities pay county taxes for fire and EMS that we don’t pay because we have our own,” Bush noted.

For less than $100 a month in city taxes, residents receive an ISO Class 1 fire rating, which insurers often view favorably when setting premiums. They enjoy low crime rates and one of the best safety records in metro Atlanta, a great library, and a well-maintained path network that remains the city’s signature feature.

“I like to tell people that an average home in Peachtree City pays $100 a month for all of that,” Bush said. “For the fire rating, for the police, for the library, for the parks, for the paths, you pay less than $100 a month for that.”

What Reserves Actually Do

Peachtree City’s reserves total $34.7 million, or about 60% of annual operating expenses. That’s well above the Government Finance Officers Association’s 30% benchmark—something Bush calls responsible.

“There’s not a minimum balance requirement,” she said. “But 30 to 50% is considered very strong. We’re a complex city with aging infrastructure and extensive assets. That’s why we stay around 60%.”

Those reserves are one reason the city maintains a AAA bond rating, which directly saves taxpayers money when borrowing for capital needs. Recent financing for capital equipment came in around the low-3% range, while the city’s reserves—invested in the Local Government Investment Pool—earned roughly 4.3%. That spread generates about $2 million per year in investment income.

“That interest helps offset the fact that property taxes don’t cover 100% of public safety,” Bush said.

Bush is comfortable if Council wants to spend reserves down closer to 30–40%, but she’s adamant they be used appropriately. “You can use reserves for one-time needs like the hockey rink enclosure, the Kedron Aquatic Center cover, or the fire training tower. But not for recurring operations. That’s just deficit spending by another name.”

What the 2026 Rollback Cost Us

The FY26 budget reduced the millage rate from 5.983 to 5.844 mills—a rollback of 0.139 mills. For the average homeowner, that translated to a savings of just $28.24 per year ($2.35 a month). But for the city, it meant a loss of $566,758 in annual revenue. 

To balance the books, the city eliminated its newly created employee merit program. “Essentially, we gave up the employees’ merit,” Bush said. 

The program, introduced just a year earlier and built around the city’s PATH values—Professionalism, Accountability, Teamwork, Honesty, Sustainability, and Safety—was designed to reward performance. The top 10% of performers could have earned 3% raises, the next 30% received 2.5%, and the remainder 2%. “It was budgeted at 2% of salaries,” she said. “And that got cut.”

These were not bonuses. They were permanent raises that rewarded performance and helped retain employees. The city kept a 2% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), but with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) running just under 3%, that COLA doesn’t fully keep pace. In practical terms, employees are taking a small step backward relative to the cost of living.

“I think if it’s like a one-year thing, everybody’s got to take that hit, because it’s an election year,” Bush said. “People understand that. But ongoing? It affects morale at a certain point.”

“This is holding everything stagnant,” she added. “This is no expanded services. This is not meeting CPI with increases for employees.”

The same pattern—delaying essential work, not cutting “extras”—plays out across the rest of the budget. Bush pointed to the fire training tower as a prime example of this strategic reshuffling. The project is critical for firefighter certification and maintaining the city’s ISO Class 1 rating—a top mark that insurers often view favorably when setting premiums.

Earlier in the budget process, when Council first cut the merit program, they added back several priorities: the fire tower, ten part-time code/park path operators, a maintenance equipment operator for Public Works, and two golf carts with radios for path patrol. “And then when we came back and did the decrease in order to accommodate a full rollback, they took the fire tower out, and they took the code/park path operators out. They left in the maintenance equipment operator.”

Bush said those shifts weren’t about cutting luxuries but about deciding which necessary projects could wait another year. “These aren’t extras,” she explained. “They’re priorities being balanced against other priorities.”

That same principle guides how the city handles equipment replacement. Every year, Peachtree City replaces ten police vehicles, a disciplined practice established after the Great Recession when replacements were deferred to save money. The result back then was costly: once the economy recovered, the city had to replace 25 cars all at once, straining the budget.

“That costs a lot of money, whereas this way it just keeps up. It keeps a smoothing effect,” Bush said.

Could the city delay replacements or maintenance again to fund deeper tax cuts? Technically, yes—but the costs would come due later, and they’d be higher. “You can skip maintenance now,” Bush concluded, “but you’ll pay twice in the future.”

What Deeper Cuts Would Actually Mean

After the FY26 rollback by 0.139 mills, I asked her to outline what even deeper reductions could look like. Bush provided additional scenarios to show how each incremental rollback would affect the bottom line. The results make one thing clear: it would take a large rollback to produce meaningful savings for the average homeowner.

A 0.25-mills reduction would eliminate about $1.02 million in annual revenue, or 1.8% of the general fund, saving the average homeowner roughly $50 per year.

A 0.5-mills cut would mean a $2.04 million loss, or 3.5% of the budget, saving about $100 per year.

A 0.75-mills rollback would reduce revenues by $3.06 million, or 5.3% of the budget, saving about $152 per year.

A full 1.0-mills cut would remove just over $4 million in funding—about 7% of the general fund—while saving the average homeowner about $203 annually.

Bush emphasized that she didn’t want to say what potential service reductions would be associated with each scenario because deciding what to cut would ultimately fall on City Council. Still, she acknowledged that sustained rollbacks of that scale would eventually reach non-core areas. “It would be your non-support services,” she said. “It would be your recreation.” At that point, the city would no longer be trimming inefficiencies. “You’re not cutting fat,” she said. “You’re cutting bone.”

That reality underscores Peachtree City’s broader approach to financial management: steady, deliberate adjustments designed to maintain stability without compromising quality. Since peaking at 7.178 mills in 2012–2013, the city has gradually reduced its rate to 5.844 mills today, thanks to a growing tax base, an expanding commercial sector, and sales tax revenues that have climbed more than 80% since 2013. SPLOST proceeds have also allowed the city to fund capital projects outside the general fund, easing pressure on operations.

“These trends have allowed us to lower and stabilize the rate while maintaining financial strength,” Bush said. “But there’s a point where you can’t go any lower without compromising what people expect from Peachtree City.”

How Low Can We Go?

After reviewing every scenario, I asked Bush the central question: How low can the city responsibly go?

Her answer was unequivocal. “We’re there,” she said. “We can do it with 5.844 mills, but that means no merit increases and no expansion. If we try to go any lower, we’d have to find another revenue source—or we’d start cutting into services.”

The state’s new House Bill 581 adds another layer of complexity. Under the law, homesteaded properties have their taxable value frozen at 2024 levels, with future increases capped at the Consumer Price Index or 3%, whichever is less. That means the city can no longer rely on rising property values to generate additional revenue without explicitly raising the millage rate. The only growth now comes from new construction—and for FY26, that added just $209,000 in revenue.

“We’re in a unique situation now where the state has, in essence, capped that for everybody,” Bush said. “If we leave our millage right where it is now, everyone’s in a good position with their taxes. But if we go lower, we’ll have to raise it back later just to catch up.”

“A rollback feels good in the short term,” she added, “but it can lead to higher bills later. Stability is cheaper than volatility.”

At 5.844 mills, we’ve reached the floor—the lowest the city can go without cutting into services. It preserves the city’s AAA credit rating, protects reserves for their intended purpose, and avoids the boom-and-bust cycle where deep cuts today force steeper increases tomorrow.

“This is holding everything stagnant,” Bush said. “It’s no growth, but it’s stable. Any lower would be detrimental.”

What Should We Make Of Our Budget This Election Season?

After walking through the numbers, here’s what’s clear: 

For about $99 a month in city property taxes, Peachtree City residents receive services most communities can’t match. The city carries no significant liabilities it can’t handle, maintains a AAA bond rating (which saves taxpayers money on every infrastructure project), and earns more in interest on its reserves than it pays on debt. The budget process is transparent, with line-by-line scrutiny and built-in efficiency targets.

This is what financial discipline looks like.

But there’s a floor. According to the person who manages the budget (someone with over 32 years of municipal finance experience), we’re standing on it. The current millage rate of 5.844 mills is the lowest the city can go while maintaining services. Any further cuts mean real trade-offs: deferred maintenance and reduced services without finding entirely new revenue sources.

That’s not opinion. That’s math.

And in this election season, you’re hearing promises about slashing taxes and cutting waste. Sure, those claims sound great, but the numbers tell a different story.

When candidates talk about the budget, look beyond the rhetoric. Do they cite specific line items they’d cut, or just offer vague talk about “waste”? Can they explain which services would be affected, or do they deflect with generalities?

This difference matters. Misleading claims (whether from genuine confusion or deliberate misdirection) create unrealistic expectations. And when those expectations collide with fiscal reality, trust erodes and good governance becomes harder.

So hold those who want to lead us accountable. Ask specifically which city positions would be eliminated, which paths would go unrepaired, or which recreation programs would close. If the answers don’t come, or if they arrive wrapped in attacks rather than analysis, that tells you everything you need to know.

Peachtree City’s excellence wasn’t built on empty promises. It was built on decades of disciplined financial management, tough trade-offs, and leaders who understood that maintaining quality costs money.

And ultimately, the choice facing voters isn’t whether we can cut taxes. We always can. But at $100 a month for the average household, you’re living in a well-run, high-quality city. 

Is that really something we want to risk just to save a few dollars?