Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown has taken his opposition to Tuesday's

vote on the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to television, taping

a five-minute spot that's being shown twice a day on Comcast cable channel

150 now through the election.

The opinion piece, which Brown insists he recorded as a "private citizen" and

not as mayor of the county's largest municipality, is intended to counter

an hourlong special produced by Comcast for the Fayette County Chamber of

Commerce touting the benefits of the SPLOST.

Channel 150 is a "leased access channel" available only to customers

with digital service, explained Andy Macke, director of government and community

affairs for Comcast's Atlanta region.

It is not a traditional "public access" channel, Macke said, which

Comcast must provide by order of the U.S. Communications Act lower on the

dial. Peachtree City's assigned government access channel is 26.

Macke said the chamber program was done as a "public service," and

includes video from an October public forum on the SPLOST edited with the

Chamber's Powerpoint presentation.

The chamber program airs at 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily through Tuesday; Brown's

segments airs one hour before, at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Though broadcast time on Channel 150 can be purchased by businesses or private

individuals, Macke said the SPLOST programming was done as a public service.

"There is some value to that air time, but because we didn't have

anybody filling that spot we thought it was important for people to get the

information," he said. "It's a community service and it's

one of the ways we are differentiated from our satellite competitors."

Macke said Comcast wasn't promoting either program.

"We produce the show, it's on there," he said. "We count

on other parties like the chamber or Mayor Brown to get the word out it's

on there."

If voters approve the one-cent additional sales tax next week, county officials

say it will raise $116 million over five years. Seventy percent of that would

be used to fund a countywide transportation improvement plan, while 30 percent

would be divided up between the various jurisdictions in the county to spend

on local road projects.

On Thursday, Brown said his opposition is to the distribution formula itself,

and not to making road improvements.

"Our City Council is in favor of making transportation improvements

in Fayette County," he said. "We like the SPLOST as a method of

paying for those improvements. However, to take tax revenue from Peachtree

City and not supply an adequate prorportional amount of service in our jurisidiction

is just blatantly unfair."

Brown says Fayette is the only county in metro Atlanta that has not adopted

the guidelines of House Bill 709, a new law passed in the Legislature last

year that calls for SPLOST revenue to be distributed based on a population

split when cities and counties can't agree on any other formula.

Brown said the new law was created specifically to address the situation

in Fayette County, and blasted members of the County Commission who have

called him "unreasonable" and "unfair."

"When they're talking about me being unreasonable, every other

county in metro Atlanta is making my point," he said, adding that information

provided by the Georgia Municipal Association showed Fayette is the only

local county not embracing the new law.

"It's a fair way to address issues all over the county," Brown

said.

County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn wasn't surprised Thursday when

he heard about Brown's efforts.

"I'm disappointed, but I'm glad it's not being funded

Originally, Chamber officials had approached the county about running their

video on the county's public access channel, but Dunn was adamant against

that approach.

"This is not something that public funds need to be used for," he

added.

Despite Brown's posturing, Dunn is optimistic about the outcome on

Tuesday.

"A lot of the early voters have told me they voted for it, so we feel

like the voters will support our efforts."

Citizen Staff Writer John Thompson contributed to this report.