Peachtree City voters will

be asked to approve a $4.9 million bond referendum to expand and renovate

the city library in the Nov. 4 municipal election.

The City Council passed a resolution

4-0 Thursday night to formally put the issue to a vote. Councilman Dan

Tennant was out of town on business and did not participate.

The choice for voters: Decide

whether to increase city tax bills by an average or $26 a year to fund

the library. They won't have a choice when it comes to the city's proposed

FY'04 budget, which raises property taxes by an average of $46.60. Both

figures are based on the approximate average value of a home in the city,

or $200,000.

Before the library bond issue

was considered, the council and staff spent more than an hour engaging

30 or so residents in a hearing on the budget, required by law because

the plan will raise the city's tax rate by .58 mills to 5.283 mills, or

12.3 percent.

For the first time in recent

history, property taxes will make up the largest source of revenue for

the city, at 32 percent, a reality blamed on a shrinking share of county

sales tax revenue, decline in the hotel-motel tax and general sluggish

economy.

The combined $27.89 million

budget includes $25.47 million in new appropriations and $2.3 million

in carry-over items under the Public Improvement Program (PIP), primarily

capital outlays associated with the Ga. Highway 54 West widening project,

city staff say.

The operations portion of the

budget grows 7.67 percent, said City Manager Barnard McMullen, mainly

due to rising costs to employee health care and pension plans, and because

line-items on street and cart path repair were transferred form the PIP

budget to Public Works.

Public Works makes up the largest

slice of planned expenditures, at 21 percent, although the public safety

departments combined account for 35 percent of the total. Viewed seprately,

Recreation and Leisure Services spending actually outstrips police spending,

17 percent to 16 percent of the total.

Maintaining the city's amenities

and recreation facilities was a central issue in budget negotiations.

The Council is scheduled to

give formal approval to the budget Sept. 4, about the same time the county

is expected to release the tax digest and set the millage rate. The city's

fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Library patrons, meanwhile,

were encouraged by the council to launch an aggressive campaign to get

out the vote if they want the bond issue to pass.

"You can target this new

library to your users," said Councilman Annie McMenamin, "but

you must sell it to the voters."

Councilmen and others expressed

confidence that the city's shaky financial footings wouldn't have a negative

impact on the library vote. The two funding menchanisms are unrelated,

said Mayor Steve Brown, since the library bond is a 15-year payback and

won't overlap into the city's operating budget at all.

While there will be some increased

expenses related to the operation of a much larger building, consultants

who worked with the city's library staff designed the expansion so no

additional personnel would be required, the council was told.

The addition would extend off

the front and to the left of the current library building, and include

a new children's section, lots of glass, a fireplace, a coffee shop and

new entranceway and canopy/drop off area that will better connect it to

City Hall, next door.

At least one citizen in attendance

took issue with the fireplace, especially since the $4.9 million for the

new library includes just $50,000 in books.

Andrea Brszoska, an 18-month

resident of the city, said the fireplace was extravagant and potentially

a safety hazard. But Barbara Swafford, who said she moved to the town

in 1971 and recently returned after living in Brentwood, Tenn., a Nashville

suburb, said the fireplace and other extras made the library "exciting."

Brentwood, with similar demographics

to Peachtree City, already has a library like the one that has been proposed

here, she said.

"People there have books

and computers at home, but they choose to go to the library because they

want to be there. It's such a warm and inviting place, an escape from

what's going on around us," she said.

Library Commission members

explained that the fireplace, coffee shop and other amenties were all

designed to be "community drawing cards" and opportunities to

level the field, so to speak, between the family that lives in the $500,000

house and the one that lives in near poverty.

And besides, they said, all

the "extras" were the result of brainstorming sessions held

with residents and library patrons.

Since parking and traffic patterns

were the top complaints, that issue is being addressed with more spots

proposed between the library and Lake Peachtree, to the rear.

Also proposed, but still in

consideration, is a muncipal complex loop road, that would circle around

the entire city government campus from Willowbend Road.

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