Senior Judge

Stephen E. Boswell of Jonesboro was assigned to the case last week. The

case was previously in the hands of Chief Superior Court Judge Ben J.

Miller, who ruled that a judge outside Fayette County should preside over

the case.

The governments

of Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone filed the action, a request

for mandatory mediation of their tax dispute with the county.

City leaders

maintain their residents pay more in taxes to the county than they receive

in services, while county leaders say taxes and services are equitably

distributed throughout the county.

State law provides

for mediation, voluntary or mandatory, of such disputes, but before Boswell

deals directly with the dispute itself, county attorneys will argue that

the case should be thrown out because county and cities already have a

service delivery agreement.

The time to

mediate the dispute, they say, is when that agreement expires and a new

one must be negotiated.

From Staff Reports