Faced with

an edict from the City Council to pare down its dependence on hotel-motel

tax funds, the Peachtree City Development Authority hashed out its budgets

for the city's amphitheater, tennis center and economic development program

at a special meeting Monday night.

The budgets

were discussed in detail during the meeting, which ran over three hours.

The authority unanimously voted to put off adopting the budgets, giving

time for input from authority members and city council representatives.

"The reality

is we're going to have to tighten things up and do the best we can,"

said authority chairman Tate Godfrey. "There has been a change in

the way the government in the city looks at this."

The consensus

of the authority was that paring down its budgets won't be an easy task.

The authority has traditionally used the hotel motel tax money to balance

both the tennis center and amphitheater budgets, though most of the income

for both facilities comes from user fees, membership fees and sponsorships.

The City Council

has asked the authority to enter a new intergovernmental agreement to

replace the current one, which was enacted last year. Council members

have asked the authority to eliminate its dependence on the hotel-motel

tax revenues.

Under the current

deal, the authority gets just over $265,000 a year in hotel-motel tax

revenues to run the tennis center, amphitheater and economic development

program.

Of the $22,080

the authority gets monthly from the city, roughly $6,400 goes towards

debt payments, said authority member Brian Palmitessa, who serves as the

authority treasurer.

Authority member

Doug Warner said he felt the amphitheater and tennis center should still

be subsidized by the city because they are essentially recreational venues.

"We can

make it break even, but should the city fathers and mothers make us do

that?" Warner said.

The amphitheater

budget includes a raise in ticket prices for the summer concert series

from $20 to $25 per night, which boosts the bottom line by approximately

$150,000. The overall budget, however, ends in a $74,000 deficit, part

of which is due to an additional $30,000 to $40,000 in medical benefits

and payroll tax the amphitheater budget took on, said authority executive

director Virgil Christian.

Also in the

budget are plans for three new jazz concerts and two new southern rock

concerts, said Amphitheater Director Donna Romeo. The idea behind those

is to attract other patrons to the amphitheater than those interested

in the variety of musical acts during the normal summer concert series,

Romeo said.

Romeo also

noted the amphitheater will likely pay more for utilities this year once

the offices are moved from the recreation building to the renovated offices

directly in front of the amphitheater. Another $30,000 is budgeted for

new ticketing software, which is needed since the current software is

no longer supported by the company which produced it.

The new software

could possibly allow the amphitheater to sell tickets via its Web site,

Romeo said.

The tennis

center budget also includes a deficit of $101,900, down from an estimated

deficit this year of $165,000. Tennis center director Sean Ferreira said

the revenue figures include the new court fee structure. Having the six

new covered courts for rainy days will also supplement the court fee revenues,

he added.

Also, the authority

will get more funding this year from rental of the restaurant at the new

tennis center building, Ferreira said.

Christian added

that he is preparing a proposal to sell naming rights to each court to

bring in additional revenue. The details haven't been finalized, but such

"packages" could include a certain amount of memberships and

possibly a corporate banquet for those sponsors.

"It has

been done before" at other tennis venues, Christian said.

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