The

Peachtree City Council has softened its stance on

using impact fees to fund the new Fayette County

Jail now that a new formula for collecting the

fees is being drawn up.

At

its meeting last Thursday, council was told the

new formula doesn't hit new industries and

businesses as hard as a previous version.

Previously, council had opposed the impact fees

on the basis that it would substantially hurt the

city's ability to recruit new industry.

Actually,

the new version of the formula isn't finalized

yet. It is expected to be ready by the middle or

end of this week, said Fayette County Attorney

Dennis Davenport, who is assisting the

negotiations between the county and the various

cities.

The

Fayette County Commission is asking all

municipalities to collect an impact fee on new

structures to defray the costs of building a new

jail facility. The jail will be paid for through

ad valorem taxes, but commissioners want to

retire the debt quicker by using the impact fees.

Another

sticking point for Peachtree City officials has

been that the city would be required to issue a

"credit" equal to the amount of the

impact fee for all new businesses and industries.

But City Attorney Rick Lindsey said that would

not negatively affect the city's ability to get

developers to fund necessary improvements before

their projects can open.

"This

is the first time we have come up with something

palatable to us," said Councilwoman Annie

McMenamin.

If

the impact fee issue is settled between the

county and its communities, the proposal must

then be approved by the Georgia Department of

Community Affairs before the fees can be

collected.

Lindsey

told council at its meeting last Thursday that he

has been discussing the impact fee issue with

Davenport.

Davenport

told Lindsey it would be hard to defend the

impact fees plan if each city collects the fee

differently. Lindsey also said Davenport

indicated if Peachtree City didn't assess the

impact fees on new industry that it would

increase the city's burden on the impact fees.

Mayor

Bob Lenox said the new formula for assessing

impact fees was much more acceptable since it

wouldn't hurt Peachtree City's industrial

recruitment efforts.

There

was some discussion of whether the impact fee

should be assessed on churches.

"If

there's a place you don't think would have an

impact on jail services, it would be the

church," Lenox said.

But

Lindsey said that churches need police services.

He recalled that a church he belonged to was once

broken into three times in one year.

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