It's over.

Fayette County and its three

largest cities have failed to reach agreement after 60 days in court-ordered

mediation of their tax equity dispute, and two of the cities must now

decide whether to file a lawsuit to settle the matter.

Monday night, the Fayetteville

City Council settled the question as far as its participation by voting

to end its litigation of the matter. Peachtree City and Tyrone had not

taken any action one way or the other at press time Tuesday.

Officials for Peachtree City,

Fayetteville and Tyrone claim their residents pay more in taxes to Fayette

than they receive in services.

County leaders dispute the

claim, saying city residents receive more than their fair share of services

for the county taxes they pay.

After almost three years of

trying to resolve the dispute in joint sessions that included the county

and all three cities, late last year the cities filed a request for mandatory

mediation under a state law requiring cooperation between cities and counties.

Visiting Judge Stephen Boswell

granted the request and ordered the mediation, which began in December

behind closed doors in compliance with his order.

Boswell also granted an extension

to keep the mediation going through Feb. 15, but that deadline has now

passed.

County Commission Chairman

Greg Dunn said Monday it's up to the cities what happens next.

"I would love it if they

would all withdraw from the lawsuit and go on meeting," he said.

"I would love to sit down with each of the cities and talk about

their problems."

Previous joint sessions may

have been a mistake, Dunn added. "It doesn't do me any good to talk

to someone in Peachtree City about Fayetteville's problems," he said.

"We're prepared to go

forward with litigation if that's what they want," Dunn added, "but

I'm really hopeful that things will work out."

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