The rocky relationship between

the Peachtree City Council and two of its autonomous appointed authorities

may have lost some of its rancor for the moment as all parties came together

last week to work out compromise positions on a disputed taxing agreement.

At issue is the hotel-motel

tax levied by the council. Both the Airport Authority and the Development

Authority want the tax subsidy to continue at the levels contained in

last summer's intergovernmental agreements. An outside attorney appointed

into improperly and suggested the council go to court and get them invalidated.

After the Airport Authority's

meeting with council, the only remaining sticking point seemed to be the

length of a new contract. Authority Chairwoman Cathy Nelmes said she preferred

a longer term deal partially to help keep the federal funds flowing into

the airport.

"I'm not willing to encumber

another council," said council member Steve Rapson. But fellow council

member Annie McMenamin argued that council recently encumbered future

councils by purchasing land at the entrance to the Wynnmeade subdivision

for the location of a cart path bridge.

"... Every two years there

will be a new council," McMenamin said, adding that authorities were

designed to take the "politics" out of operations like Falcon

Field.

"I'm not going to bind

future city councils not on my watch," Rapson said.

Council members seemed content

to keep the authorities' hotel-motel tax subsidy funded at $120,000, but

Councilman Dan Tennant said he would like to see that number reduced gradually

over 10 years.

The authority is in the process

of acquiring 24 acres for later development with a $2.2 million federal

grant, but if the land remains undeveloped it will likely cause federal

officials to become concerned the airport is not spending grant funds

wisely, Nelmes noted.

The authority depends on the

hotel-motel tax income solely for its capital improvement budget, not

for its operating budget, Nelmes explained. Many capital improvement projects

planned by the authority are to insure the airport can eventually become

totally self-sustaining, she added.

One such example is the Hangar

Area B project, which is currently stalled because of a problem getting

a nearby gravel road paved so tenants at the six hangar spaces planned

there can have access to the property. That project will add approximately

$4,000 a month in rent payments to the authority, and any new planes based

there also add to the county's ad valorem tax digest, Nelmes noted.

The road paving project has

partially been stalled because the airport's purchase of the adjacent

property has not been completed, leaving three entities owning Stallings

Road, including the airport, Peachtree City Holdings Inc. and the Peachtree

City Water and Sewer Authority. The authority has commitments from those

entities to chip in for the road paving, but city regulations say the

road can't be accepted by the city for paving unless there are two or

fewer owners, said Airport Manager Jim Savage.

Recently, Peachtree City Mayor

Steve Brown ordered city staff to decline taking any action on the matter

"pending consummation of a revised Intergovernmental Agreement between

the airport authority and the city," according to city documents.

"This is an urgent need

for us," Nelmes said, pointing out that some developers of the hangar

sites have lost prospects because of the delays.

At Thursday's meeting, Brown

said he thought some of the other projects from that plan could be cut,

particularly if the funds don't come from the federal government in coming

years. He noted that the city is also facing significant budget cuts this

year and next.

"We're going to have to

go to a lot of groups in our city and say that's not going to happen,"

Brown said, referring to the $1.8 million the city cut from its public

improvement plan for the coming year.

After the meeting, the authorities

and council agreed to appoint two members from each body to serve on a

committee to negotiate the final draft of the contract.

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