As if cutting

nearly $2 million in projects from this year's budget wasn't bad enough,

Peachtree City could take a $400,000 tax revenue reduction if Fayette

County officials get their way.

Fayette County

has proposed a new formula for distributing the county's Local Option

Sales Tax, otherwise known as LOST. On this occasion, LOST seems to be

an appropriate term for the funds, Mayor Steve Brown joked last week.

"If you

don't laugh, you'd cry," Brown said, adding "it's a serious

situation. ... It puts us in a very large bind."

That bind could

adversely affect the city's 2003-2004 budget, meaning the city may have

to consider reducing service and staffing levels in addition to considering

another property tax increase, Brown said.

Currently,

the county gets 47.5 percent of all LOST revenues while the remainder

is divided between Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Tyrone and Brooks based

on population figures.

But now the

county wants to bump its share up to 50 percent, which would cut into

the cities' pie. LOST is the largest revenue source Peachtree City depends

on, Brown noted.

While county

officials argue the unincorporated county is taking on a larger share

of the county's population, Brown counters that the city "lost"

its fair share of LOST funds since it couldn't reap the benefits of its

dramatic growth since 1993.

"As it

was, the county received the bulk of the money from it," Brown said.

"Peachtree City sacrificed during its key years of growth and I'd

like to see the policy field leveled out a bit."

Brown also

said the county's request to increase its LOST revenues could possibly

be linked to the commission's pre-election decision to roll back property

taxes and stave off a property tax increase.

If the city

loses the $400,000 in LOST money, it would equal half of the proposed

tax increase council plans for this budget year, Brown said.

"No one

can afford to make those adjustments," Brown said, noting that the

city's ad valorem taxes are declining along with a "serious"

decline in impact fees as the city's residential growth begins to dwindle.

Brown said

he would agree to the county's request to freeze the new LOST formula

for 10 years if an appropriate formula can be agreed on.

The LOST plan

must be in place by Dec. 31 of this year or the tax subsides and none

of the local governments will get LOST funding.

Never mind

that the Peachtree City and Tyrone councils are still litigating alleged

tax inequities with the Fayette County Commission. Peachtree City and

Tyrone claim their residents are overtaxed based on services the county

doesn't provide to their residents because the city and town already provide

those services.

Brown guessed

that the tax inequity and LOST issues might perhaps be solved at the same

time during the negotiation process.