Are

residents of Fayette's cities getting as much

from the county in services as they are paying in

taxes?

The

answer depends upon who is crunching the numbers.

County

and city representatives Monday tentatively

decided to consider hiring an outside expert to

get a more objective reading after county manager

Billy Beckett reported that the county's finance

office came up with a completely different answer

than the one arrived at by Peachtree City and

Tyrone officials.

"All

of us are looking at it through our own

eyes," said Beckett during a meeting of the

county's FUTURE (Fayette United Team to Use

Resources Effectively) committee. "We're not

going to come up with an objective

analysis."

The

committee, composed of appointed and elected

representatives of Fayette and its five

municipalities, has been working for two years to

find ways the county and cities can cooperate to

reduce costs and improve efficiency. Complying

with a new state law, HB 489, which requires

cooperative agreements between counties and

cities, is part of FUTURE's mission.

The

question of whether city residents are receiving

services equal to the taxes they pay Fayette

County leaped into public discussion when Tyrone

Town Councilman Ronnie Cannon charged during a

council meeting that the town's residents pay

$400,000 a year more in taxes than they receive

in services.

Peachtree

City officials studied the question and

determined that their residents are shortchanged

by $2.5 million, said Mayor Bob Lenox.

"We're

not saying this is the exact number," said

Lenox Monday, "but we're saying this is a

logical framework" for discussing the

matter. "In our opinion the citizens of

Peachtree City are subsidizing the citizens of

the county," he said. "That's not a

tolerable nor an equitable situation for the

citizens of Peachtree City."

"Our

data suggest the cities are getting more than

their fair share," said Beckett, adding that

the city study doesn't take into account

"indirect" services such as use of

county roads, only direct services like county

participation in city construction projects.

Lenox

and other city representatives said they want to

move quickly to get an independent expert to

address the question.

"If

there is a parity here, I want to know it,"

said Lenox. If not, he added, "I want to

figure out how it is we're going to move toward

achieving parity."

Peachtree

City's study suggests that, out of the county's

$29.5 million budget, Peachtree City residents

provide $8.1 million in property taxes and other

fees, and receive $5.7 million in services.

Fayetteville

pays $2.7 million and receives $2.4 million in

service, the study says, and Tyrone pays $875,511

and receives $654,560 in services.

The

study doesn't provide figures for Brooks and

Woolsey.

similar study conducted by Fayette's finance

office starts by discounting $3.8 million in

service-specific revenues and expenses. Those are

services such as Fayette County's fire service,

for which taxes are collected only in the

district where services are received.

Of

the remaining $25.6 million in revenues, $15.6

million comes from unincorporated residents and

$10.11 million from the cities, the county study

says.

The

county figures, which break down expenditures

into eight categories and 45 subcategories,

suggest that the cities receive $10.16 million in

services, just over the $10.11 million they pay.

Peachtree

City receives $6.63 million; Fayetteville $2.52

million and Tyrone $1.01 million in services, the

county study reports. The county study does not

break out revenues by individual cities.

County

and cities have agreed on several plans for

service delivery, but could not agree in four

areas: recreation, law enforcement, public works

and fire services.

The

state Department of Community Affairs has

approved Fayette's joint service agreements,

including its plan to come to agreement on the

four sticking points by the end of 2000, but city

leaders at the table Monday indicated they want

to move a lot faster than that.

"This

is a hot button for me," said Lenox.

FUTURE

members agreed to come up with a list of names of

experts who could do an independent study, and

have a meeting next month to decide whose name

they should carry back to their respective boards

for a final decision.

Coming

to agreement on the four areas of disagreement

should be easy once the central question of taxes

paid versus services received is answered, said

Fayetteville Mayor Mike Wheat.

Those

present tentatively agreed to shoot for receiving

a report from the outside expert by March or

April in hopes of coming up with a final

agreement by July or August.

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