At least two Fayette County

nonprofit groups breathed a sigh of temporary relief after the Peachtree

City City Council agreed last Thursday to maintain current levels of funding

for those groups through the end of this year.

A change to a city administration

regulation, or CAR, reduces the total amount of funds made available to

nonprofit civic groups, agencies or school organizations to $25,000 annually,

and individual requests may not total more than $5,000.

That threatened the budgets

of Fayette Senior Services, which was promised $7,500 from the city this

year, and the Council on Domestic Violence, which was counting on $6,500

in funds.

The change in the way the city

council dishes up taxpayer funds for nonprofits angered some traditional

recipients, like the Boy Scouts and Kiwanis Club, but the council reassured

members of groups that call Peachtree City home would continue to receive

support.

At issue were groups like the

Council on Domestic Violence, a countywide agency that helps victims far

beyond the city limits.

"The majority of domestic

violence incidents we deal with do come from Peachtree City," said

Bonnie Campbell, director of the council. Of 416 people helped by her

council last year, Campbell said 28 percent were from Peachtree City,

while just 27 percent lived in the unincorporated part of the county,

she told the council.

A victims support group meets

at a Peachtree City church, she said, and her group supplies the Peachtree

City Police Department with tools and training for dealing with domestic

abuse cases.

Peachtree City is the only

municipal government that gives to the group, she said. The County Commission

funds $10,000 annually of the council's $141,000 budget, Campbell said.

Another $10,000 comes courtesy of a crime victims fund, and last year

the group earned $38,000 from sales at the Fayette Thrift Shop. "The

rest, we have to hustle for," said Campbell.

Wallace Kite, representing

Fayette Senior Services, offered figures in support of his agency keeping

city funding intact. He said Peachtree City's $7,500 donation makes up

just 1 percent of the annual budget, but that 36 percent of the agency's

home-bound services, such as meals-on-wheels, go to Peachtree City addresses.

Councilman Dan Tennant, who

has supported tightening the belt when it comes to nonprofit funding,

said the council for many years had "the authority to write a blank

check" when groups came calling. Now, he said, when the money runs

out, it's gone. "First come, first served."

"We're facing a budget

crunch," Tennant said. "We have to be creative, be tough."

Councilwoman Annie McMenamin

said the two groups provided services far more valuable than what the

city was paying them. "I'm very committed to these organizations

and think they are worthy of city funding," she said.

Councilman Steve Rapson, saying

it wouldn't be fair to cut the groups off now, suggested that they be

"grandfathered" in and receive their full funding.

Councilman Murray Weed said

he views such nonprofit groups as "city vendors," independent

businesses that provide vital services that the city needs.

"It's definitely not a

handout," Weed said. "We're paying for a service that directly

benefits Peachtree City."

Tennant asked that funding

requests be dealt with fairly and that politics be left out of the equation

in the future. "If it's the will of everybody else to keep funding

this, then I'm OK with it," he said.

Weed said he didn't see how

politics played into the matter. McMenamin threatened to vote against

it, though she supported the nonprofits, saying it wasn't clear how many

Peachtree City residents benefited. Rapson asked city staff to research

the numbers and report