Peachtree City's operating budget could increase by as much as 11.8 percent

if the City Council eventually adopts a proposal it will discuss at Thursday

night's meeting in a public hearing.

The proposed budget hike includes implementation of an employee pay plan

at over $493,000. Also included is the addition of three new firefighter

positions.

Those two factors are chiefly responsible for the drastic increase, City

Manager Jim Basinger told council in a memo regarding the budget.

Without the pay plan and the three new firefighters, the city's projected

budget increase would have been 6.51 percent, he noted.

Basinger is recommending that $1.05 million of the city's unrestricted

cash reserves be used to help balance the budget for this year. A projected

increase in property tax revenues, equalling over $398,000, will also

help fund the recommended increase, Basinger noted.

The city manager reported that he received assurances from senior staff

"to make every effort to hold down the increase in the 2002 operating

budget."

The proposed budget includes the addition of 12 full-time positions, six

of which are for firefighters.

"While these personnel-related increases are significant, I would

like to point out that the city continues to have the most favorable ration

of employees per 1,000 population of any municipality in the metro area,"

Basinger wrote.

He added that the city will need to make adjustments for the 2002 fiscal

year to preserve the city's future reserves.

"In conclusion, the city's primary fiscal challenge for Fiscal Year

2001 will be to fund the employee pay plan and additional fire department

employees, while still maintaining adequate cash reserves and holding

the millage rate constant," Basinger said in the memo to council.

The 2000-2001 budget proposal also includes over $613,000 in the council

contingency fund.

A copy of the proposed budget is available at the city's website, www.peachtree-city.org.