Fayette County should allow

a request for mandatory mediation of its tax equity dispute with local

cities to move through the courts unhindered, says Peachtree City Mayor

Bob Lenox.

Leaders in Peachtree City,

Fayetteville and Tyrone filed the petition last month, asking the court

to order mandatory mediation. The cities claim Fayette County owes their

residents about $3 million a year because they pay more in taxes than

they receive in services.

The county last week filed

its response to the cities' request, asking Superior Court Judge Ben Miller

to dismiss the petition as groundless.

"The county made a motion

to dismiss based on technical grounds... " Lenox said, indicating

he would prefer the issue be settled soon rather than dragging into the

future.

But ending the dispute quickly

is precisely the county's intent, said County Commission Chairman Greg

Dunn.

"We're trying to avoid

the cost of lawsuits for all the entities involved," said Dunn. "We

think that what we're doing is legal and right."

A hearing on the county's motion

to dismiss is set for July 13 at 9 a.m.

Lenox has been vocal about

the dispute between Fayette's cities and the County Commission. He contends

the commission agreed to abide by the results of an independent study

on the matter, but now the commissioners have changed their minds.

That study was performed last

year by Governmental Solutions Ltd., and paid for jointly by the county

and cities. GSL's consultants reported that a tax inequity does exist

and recommended several methods for addressing them.

The issue came up as part of

the governments' negotiations in efforts to comply with HB 489, a 1996

state law requiring that counties and cities cooperate to eliminate duplication

of services and reduce taxes.

City leaders insist that the

issue was never resolved, but county leaders say that because a service

distribution agreement between county and cities was approved by state

agencies, there is no need to address the cities' claims until a new agreement

is required by law, in about two years.

The county's motion to dismiss

the cities' request for mandatory mediation says that the state law "enumerates

the types of circumstances where a service delivery strategy would need

to be revised," and state: "None of the circumstances listed

... have occurred requiring a renegotiation of the service delivery strategy."

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