Peachtree City taxpayers who

want to see what all the fuss has been about regarding the proposed FY04

budget can download the document off the city's web page for personal

inspection. Hard copies are also available at City Hall.

And residents who are especially

civic-minded may choose to attend Thursday night's hearing. At $27.89

million, the '04 budget is actually slightly lower than the current year's

$27.9 million.

According to city financial

services director Paul Salvatore, the budget contains good news for the

city's 225 employees: They will be getting a 2 percent cost of living

adjustment (COLA) in their salaries come October, the beginning of the

city's fiscal year.

The expense isn't just a reward

for providing a host of city services at peak efficiency, said Salvatore,

but also keeps the city on track for staying within the 70th percentile

of municipal salaries nationwide.

Another chunk of change is

the money in the Public Improvement Project account, most of which is

intended for highway roadside beautification work whenever the Ga. Highway

54 West widening gets started.

"Last year in order to

balance the budget we used a lot of onetime revenue sources," said

Salvatore. "We came in this year knowing what we went through last

year and we didn't want to repeat that. We were so lean on our current

year budget that the new city manager was surprised at how little we operated

on."

As a solution, the city is

proposing an increase in the tax rate to 5.71 millage, Salvatore said,

less than a full 1 mill rate hike but enough to meet all program needs

once some deep and sacrificial cuts were made throughout the city.

For example, the Update city

newsletter will no longer be mailed to residents, saving $30,000 a year.

And Salvatore is still studying

the revenue potential from changing the city's court fees and fine structure,

an idea first tossed out during brainstorming sessions last month. While

nobody in the city wants to commit to operating city services based on

the number of traffic tickets the police hand out, Salvatore said the

time is right to adjust some of those costs.

"When I first came in

here three years ago, I did a study to see if where we were with our fee

structure, and I committed to taking a look at that again every three

years," he said.

But even if a windfall comes

along later in the year due to fee changes, Salvatore said it's a new

day for Peachtree City's budget writers. "We've got to learn with

the concept: How do you do more with less?" The budget hearing will

lead off the regular third Thursday city council meeting and starts at

7 p.m. at City Hall.

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