While county commissioners

meet today at 8 a.m. to discuss their agreement with Fayetteville concerning

joint use of the County Jail, city leaders may be backing away from the

discussion.

The agreement, in place since

1994, expires at the end of the year, and coming up with a new one has

been one of several sore spots in relations between the county and its

three largest cities in recent years.

County officials want to start

charging fees to house prisoners sentenced by municipal courts for violating

city ordinances, but city officials argue that their residents already

pay plenty of taxes to operate the jail.

The division brought about

the downfall of plans last year to charge impact fees collected from developers

to help pay the cost of new government facilities and services made necessary

With expiration of the agreement

looming, officials from Fayetteville and the county came up with parameters

for a new agreement in meetings over the last two weeks, and agreed to

present those ideas to the County Commission and City Council.

In the meantime, Fayetteville

officials presented the proposal to officials from Peachtree City and

Tyrone last Tuesday.

"Nothing is decided yet

100 percent," said Fayetteville City Manager Joe Morton this week.

But consensus among those discussing the matter last week was that "the

jail issue is part of the overall tax inequity issue," said Morton.

County and city leaders have

been locking horns for about three years now over the tax equity question,

with city officials adamantly maintaining that their residents are paying

taxes for services they're not receiving about $2 million worth. County

officials are equally adamant that there is no tax inequity, or if there

is, it's county residents who are on the short end.

The issue came to a boil after

the state Legislature passed a new law requiring that cities and counties

develop joint strategies for how the tax money is divided and how the

services are delivered.

After talks to resolve the

issue broke down last year, city leaders this year filed a formal request

for mandatory mediation, and a visiting judge has granted that request

(see related story).

"That's going to go to

mediation," said Morton, "and consensus is that [the jail issue]

be addressed as part of that."

Mayor Kenneth Steele said he

will send a letter to the commission asking that the current agreement

be extended for six months while the overall tax equity issue is mediated.

"We've been encouraged

we do have a mediator now."

City Council will likely get

an update on the matter during its work session this Thursday, Morton

said.

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