After September

11, many local governments were wondering about sales tax collections.

Many governments,

such as Fairburn, rely heavily on sales tax collections to fund local

services. With people staying at home and glued to news coverage of the

terrorist attacks, government leaders started getting nervous about a

major source of revenue.

During Monday

night's Fairburn City Council meeting, auditor Dan Post told the city's

leaders that things were not as bad as he expected.

Post had estimated

the sales tax collection might be off more than 10 percent because of

Sept.11 and a slowing economy.

But the latest

figures show the tax collection was only off 7.5 percent. With many economists

pointing towards an economic recovery, Post estimates the collections

for the rest of the year will be in the 7.5 percent range.

Still, the

drop in sales tax dollars still will mean a budget shortfall for the city

of more than $100,000 this year.

"Where

are we going to get that money?" questioned Councilman Harvey Melear.

Post said this

year's figures showed the Council had an $800,000 surplus. If the city

does half as well this year, the $100,000 shortfall could be taken out

of the surplus.

"As long

as we don't have to touch the reserves, I'm happy," Melear said.

Post said the

growth taking place in the city this year with new residential and commercial

projects should help compensate for the loss of sales tax dollars.