Fayette County and its cities

are further than ever from a resolution of their dispute over tax equity.

During their work session today,

county commissioners may or may not discuss a request from local cities

for mediation in the dispute.

Cities formally asked for voluntary

mediation last Wednesday during a meeting of the FUTURE Committee, composed

of elected and appointed officials from all the local governments.

Following two hours of heated

discussion, the cities delivered a letter to commission Chairman Harold

Bost, asking the county to answer their request for mediation by Dec.

1, but Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox admitted this week that may have

been unreasonable.

Bost wrote back to the cities

saying he will respond to their request as soon as the commission has

been able to discuss the matter, but would not say Monday whether the

request will be discussed at the group's workshop today at 3:30 p.m.

If commissioners don't discuss

the request today, their next opportunity is next Thursday, Dec. 14, at

7 p.m. Lenox said he hopes they don't wait that long, because counties

and cities throughout the state are facing a Dec. 31 deadline to resolve

such issues under a state law requiring that counties and cities eliminate

duplication of services and double taxation.

"It's hard for me to imagine

them not talking about it," said Lenox this week. "All three

major cities are united in this. I would think they would want to talk

about it and get back to us."

If the group doesn't discuss

the issue today, Lenox said city leaders probably will discuss whether

to go to Superior Court and ask for mandatory mediation rather than waiting

to see what the commission does Dec. 14. The cities' letter said mandatory

mediation will be the next step if the county refuses voluntary mediation.

"If we get to Jan. 1 and

we haven't settled this, we are in deep doo-doo," Lenox told county

leaders after reading the cities' letter during the FUTURE meeting.

FUTURE (Fayette United Team

to Use Resources Effectively) is a three-yearold committee of elected

and appointed officials from the county and all the local cities, and

is charged with finding ways the governments can cooperate, eliminate

duplicate services and save taxpayers money.

City leaders maintain that

their residents are paying more in taxes to Fayette County than they are

receiving in services, while county officials say there is no inequity.

The controversy is complicated

issues and make sure that no residents are charged taxes for services

they don't receive. Dec. 31 is the state-imposed deadline for the governments

to find solutions. Failing that, the state could revoke their status as

certified local governments.

A consultant hired jointly

indeed, exist and city residents are shortchanged. But County Commission

Chairman Bost has argued that the consultant's work didn't take into account

the fact that city residents receive a larger property tax rollback from

local option sales taxes than county residents do.

That evens the scale, he said,

and commissioners agreed, voting to make that their "final answer."

Bost's contention "makes

a lovely argument that is totally meaningless," Lenox said during

the FUTURE meeting. The sales tax rollback has nothing to do with the

governments' budgets and how much each resident is paying for county services,

he said.

"I don't care what the

rollback is... that's all crap,' said Lenox. "What really matters

is the actual amount of money that each homeowner has to pay. If you take

$9.2 million from me [in property taxes] and give me $7.5 million in services,

where is the equity?"

But Bost said city residents

receive a larger rollback in property taxes than county residents do,

and that's money the cities can put in their budgets without charging

the residents. "In this whole process, you get the $2.8 million and

more back in credits," he said.

"We are not going to resolve

this sitting around the table," said Lenox. Mediation is the only

recourse, he said. "We don't agree... what else can we do?"

But mediation is not binding.

What if mediation fails to resolve the matter? The law is not clear on

the next step, said Lenox, adding a lawsuit may be the only way to bring

finality.

That lawsuit could possibly

be filed by city taxpayers rather than by their governments, Lenox said.