To hear Steve Brown explain it, Peachtree City deserves roughly 35 percent of the revenue a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax initiative would generate, based on his estimate that 35 percent of the county's population resides within his town.

Others, particularly county leadership and officials with the city of Fayetteville, point out the disparity created on a straight percent-as-population division of the penny tax pie, because of the huge economic draw of the Fayette Pavilion where an estimated 52 percent of shoppers hail from outside the county.

The Pavilion lies entirely within the city limits of Fayetteville.

But no firm statistics exist to support either cause.

According to Brown, the city's population as of this year is approximately 35,060, an increase of more than 3,000 from the 2000 Census estimate of 31,580.

That same year, the census said the county's population was 91,263, a figure it estimates had risen to 96,611 by July 1, 2002.

Census estimates for Fayette's population as of July 1, 2003 are due to be released around April 1.

But the Atlanta Regional Commission estimated earlier this year that the county was home to approximately 98,000 people. And county government, likewise, embraces a population total of about 98,400 as of last fall.

But the Fayette County Development Authority claims the population of the county is more like 102,000 and growing, using their own formula for counting residents and new home construction.

Still more difficult to prove is where sales tax revenue is generated.

Brown and others on the Peachtree City Council contend that population aside, Peachtree City accounts for at least half of all sales tax revenue generated in the county, something that is nearly impossible to prove.

An official at the State Revenue Department confirmed that sales tax collected from individual businesses and funneled to the state for calculation isn't broken down by municipality, just by county.

Any SPLOST funds are then redistributed