Fayette County officials were

holding their cards close to the vest Friday in the ongoing tax equity

dispute with Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone.

Following a closed session

to discuss their legal options Thursday night, county commissioners and

county attorneys would say only that the dispute will "probably"

go to mediation, as ordered by a visiting judge last week.

"We discussed our options,"

said commission Chairman Greg Dunn, but he added no final decision was

made whether to appeal Judge Stephen Boswell's decision to a higher court

or take some other action, or to simply allow the mediation to take place.

Boswell ruled in favor of the

cities, ordering mandatory mediation of the long-standing dispute.

The cities claim their residents

pay more in taxes than they receive in services from the county, to the

tune of about $2 million a year. Under a state law that requires counties

and cities to work together to eliminate duplication of services and save

taxpayers money, the cities earlier this year filed the request for mandatory

mediation.

County attorneys asked that

the request be dismissed, arguing that a joint service delivery strategy

was agreed to by all parties in 1999, and settles the tax equity issue.

County officials contend that there is no tax inequity, and if anything

it's residents of the unincorporated areas of the county who are short-changed.

Boswell denied the county's

motion, agreeing with Peachtree City Attorney Rick Lindsey's argument

that state law requires mediation of the dispute. Lindsey said the state

law requires cities and counties to make sure that city residents are

not paying for services primarily provided to residents of the unincorporated

county.

That situation exists, he argued,

and therefore, "If we don't go back and revisit this, then the cities

and the county are violating the law."

Boswell said Wednesday he will

talk to the lawyers for the county and cities before choosing a mediator

to handle the dispute.

"It's the best possible

outcome we could have hoped for," said Barry Amos, town manager of

Tyrone, which also prevailed over the county in the first round of a court

battle last week over the town's plans to buy sewer capacity from the

city of Fairburn.

City leaders say they are ready

to get the matter into the hands of a mediator and get it settled.

Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox

said he feels the city is willing to settle the issue "with some

professional assistance."

"It's a crying shame we

had to go through all this effort to have a conversation with the county,"

Lenox said.

Lenox added that he couldn't

imagine the judge allowing the county to have its way on the matter, especially

since the three cities involved comprise over half of the county's total

population.

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