The planning

and budgeting process will speed up in earnest this weekend as the Peachtree

City Council holds its annual retreat beginning today at 1 p.m. at the

Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center.

This is seen

residential developments will continue to shrink as the city nears residential

build out.

The possibility

of raising the hotel-motel tax from 3 percent to 5 percent will be discussed,

with the idea of steering the funds to the Development Authority and Airport

Authority. The Development Authority wants the funds to pay for an expansion

of the tennis center that would add a number of courts, including some

in a covered area.

Those covered

courts will allow the city to seek out major college tennis tournaments

to stay in town, such as the Southerneastern Conference and Atlantic Coast

Conference tournaments, according to tennis center director Virgil Christian.

The Development

Authority also recently agreed to purchase the Drake Point area along

Lake Peachtree next to City Hall for over $1 million, and council will

discuss ways to fund that purchase so it might pay the authority for the

property.

The Airport

Authority is considering spending over $1 million to purchase land adjacent

to the airport to insure that it is developed with businesses that use

the airport.

The city will

also discuss the stormwater management program that it will have to implement

due to more stringent federal regulations. The Peachtree City Water and

Sewer Authority has agreed to consider operating the program since it

has equipment similar to what is needed which is already used to maintain

the city's sanitary sewer system.

Other items

to be discussed by council include:

Debt financing

options for capital projects.

Revenue and

expenditure projections for the next 10 years.

A review of

all revenues generated by the city.

A user ID

system to employ at recreation facilities.

A push for

the city to create a teen center.

A discussion

on employee medical insurance.

A review of

the non-profit organization funding program.

Saturday, the

retreat will be dedicated to meetings with the various commissions, authorities

and boards the city funds. The 45-minute meetings begin at 8 a.m with

the Development Authority, followed by the Airport Authority at 8:45,

Water and Sewerage Authority at 9:45, the Commission on Children and Youth

at 10:30, the Recreation Commission at 11:15, the Library Commission at

1:30 p.m. (after a lunch break) and the Planning Commission at 2:15.