To cover a projected $1.15

million increase in Peachtree City's budget, the City Council is being

asked to approve a 23.7 percent hike in property taxes for the 2002 fiscal

year.

The increase is recommended

said in a memo to City Council. Basinger attributed the budget hike to

increases in the operating budget and debt service.

Peachtree City's tax rate hasn't

been raised since 1984, said city public information officer Betsy Tyler.

Council is slated to discuss

the budget in a workshop meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Floy Farr Room

at the Peachtree City Library before the regular council meeting at 7

p.m.

The operating budget reflects

an increase of 6.73 percent from last year, according to city figures.

The increased debt service includes plans to lease-purchase facilities

such as a satellite auto maintenance shop, a smoke-and-burn training building

for the Fire Department and renovations to City Hall, Tyler said. Also,

the debt service increase is due to plans to lease-purchase equipment

such as a new ladder truck for the Fire Department, she added.

The proposed increase of .91

mills would mean a total of 4.75 mills paid by city residents. For homes

valued at $200,000, it would increase the annual tax bill by $72.80, according

to city projections. But those projections don't take into account the

latest round of property reassessments.

Councilman Steve Rapson said

Monday that he does not support such a dramatic increase in the millage

rate. He does, however, support increasing tax rates somewhat, he said,

because council declined to do so last year despite adding 12 new employees

and $754,000 in raises and benefits for employees.

Instead, council used $1.4

million from the city's unreserved cash fund to "balance" the

2001 budget last year. To keep property taxes from rising, council also

rolled back the millage rate to combat the rise in property valuations.

Of those 12 new employees,

seven were for the Fire Department, two for the Recreation Department

and one each for the Police Department, the Public Works Department and

the library.

Rapson, the city's former finance

director who now serves in a similar position for Fulton County, said

he would study the proposed 2002 budget in detail to look for items that

can be cut.

"I can assure you they're

not going to convince me to approve a 24 percent increase in the millage

for this year's budget," Rapson said.

Holding the millage rate at

3.84 for the 2002 budget would require approximately $1 million to balance

the budget, according to Basinger's memo. Taking that from the unreserved

cash fund would reduce it to "what staff considers an unacceptable

level of approximately $1.2 million," Basinger said.

According to calculations used

one dollar per thousand of a home's assessed value. Assessed value is

40 percent of market value minus any exemptions.

The proposed .91-mill increase

is one of four options presented to council by city staff. The other options

include raising the millage to a more conservative 4.06 or 4.28 and balancing

the budget with funds from the cash reserve. The other option presented

is to raise the millage rate to 4.95.

An increase to 4.06 mills would

require approximately $500,000 from the cash reserves to balance the budget,

Tyler said. Raising the millage to 4.28 would require approximately $250,000

from the cash reserves to balance the budget, she added.

Of the increases sought by

various city departments, the largest is requested by the Police Department

for an additional $238,558, representing a 7.6 percent increase from its

allotment in the 2001 budget. The Fire Department is seeking an additional

$198,641 over what it was budgeted for this year, an increase of 7.9 percent.

Also, the Leisure Services

Department is seeking $157,882, an increase of 5.1 percent.

The Administrative Services

Department is seeking an increase of $108,651, almost half of which is

earmarked for court services. That represents a 11.5 percent increase

from the current administrative services budget.

Typically, council begins its

budget workshops by meeting with department heads so the projected increases

can be explained. But since tax hike is contemplated, that issue will

be addressed first during the workshop, Basinger indicated in the memo

to council members.

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