With hotel-motel

tax revenues coming in at 38 percent below the budgeted amount for the

year, Peachtree City officials are recommending no changes in the budget

contingency plan at the current time.

Although hotel-motel

tax revenues are down, the city's overall revenues are up 7 percent, largely

due to a significant windfall in the city's insurance premium tax revenue

due to the distribution formula being modified with figures from the latest

U.S. Census, according to a memo distributed to members of the City Council.

The City Council

will be updated on the city's budget contingency plan at its meeting Thursday

night, although no action is recommended by city staff.

The hotel-motel

tax revenues are down $66,676 from initial projections for the first two

months of the fiscal year, city finance director Paul Salvatore wrote

in the memo. But those projections were made before the country's economy

entered a recession in the fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Earlier this

year, the council voted to increase the hotel-motel tax from 3 to 5 percent,

with the additional funds earmarked for payments on the expansion of the

city's Tennis Center and improvements to the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater.

Part of the increase was also committed to the airport authority to fund

necessary projects at Falcon Field.

The contingency

plan developed by city staff resulted in funds being impounded for a variety

of city projects until city officials are sure that the effects of the

recession will not hurt the city's revenue stream.