It would be

"dirty pool" to cut off city funding to Peachtree City's development

authority before a dispute over those payments is settled in court, according

to authority chairman Tate Godfrey.

That is one

of the possible actions recommended to Mayor Steve Brown in a memo from

Councilman Murray Weed. The memo suggested that the City Council could

instruct the city's finance director to withhold the funds until a possible

lawsuit over the matter is resolved.

"We have

to assume that's the direction they're going in," Godfrey said Tuesday

morning, noting that no council members have contacted him or the authority

about resolving the dispute. "... To me, that makes the biggest statement

of their intentions of anything they have done to date."

The Development

Authority, which uses funds from the city's hotel-motel tax to operate

the tennis center and amphitheater, was to discuss the matter in executive

session last night after The Citizen's press time. The Airport Authority,

which also depends on a similar contract for hotel-motel funds to run

Falcon Field, is expected to discuss the matter in executive session tonight.

The City Council

has already appointed an independent attorney to investigate the contracts

between the city and the authorities that were signed by former Mayor

Bob Lenox last year. It has been alleged that the contracts signed by

Lenox removed language from a previous version council approved that allowed

the city to reduce the hotel-motel tax payments at its "sole discretion."

The version

signed by Lenox requires that the authorities have to sign off on any

council attempt to change the funding. The change gives veto power on

funding changes to the authorities.

Lenox claims

that change was in the documents that were approved by the entire council

at its June 6 meeting.

The contracts

stipulate how much of the city's hotel-motel tax funds will be diverted

to the authority for the operation of the city's tennis center, amphitheater

and airport.

Brown wants

to delete an annual $155,000 "supplement" to the tennis center

from the contracts, claiming the current City Council should have the

ability to decide how those funds are spent.

The majority

of the tennis center's annual budget comes from membership dues and fees

for court time and lessons.

"Every

recreation program has some form of underwriting by the city," Godfrey

said, citing the $500,000 spent to operate the city's Kedron Fieldhouse/Aquatic

Center as an example.

"I think

it is appalling they'd consider cutting the funds off before it's ruled

on by a federal judge," Godfrey said. "That's just dirty pool."

The authority

"made commitments" based on the fund payment schedule outlined

in the contract, Godfrey noted. The authority financed $2.5 million for

an expansion of the tennis center that will add six covered courts and

a clubhouse/office building that includes a restaurant overlooking the

courts.

The mayor has

said he will commit to "covering" the development authority's

debts for the tennis center and amphitheater improvements

although he

was an outspoken opponent of the tennis center expansion before he became

mayor.