When Peachtree City's Finance Director Paul Salvatore presented staff's proposed budget at the first workshop last month, it included a modest property tax increase of 0.25 mills for the coming fiscal year.
After the city's fifth public budget workshop Thursday night, council now appears to favor a tax hike of at least double that amount, with the new rate possibly going up by as much as 1.25 mills.
The higher short-term increase stems from council's desire to rein in a dire five-year budget outlook, which had included $18 million in expected shortfalls. The 1.25 mill increase proposal is designed to proactively ward off the need for dramatic millage rate spikes in 2012, 2013 and beyond, which the original 5-year model required to maintain current levels of service.
An increase of 1.25 mills equates to about $145 in additional taxes for the average Peachtree City homeowner.
Other shortfall reduction strategies, such as cutting services or decreasing employee wages, were not presented Thursday night.
"With this [1.25 mill increase] model, we're building up the reserves to cover the SPLOST funds running out in 2013 and the $1 million in annual sales tax revenue we expect to lose when the county renegotiates the local option sales tax agreement after the 2010 Census figures are finalized," Salvatore explained.
Besides the increased tax hike and a modest $20,000 associated with additional grass mowings along city roads, little has changed from staff's original proposed FY 2011 budget.
City Manager Bernie McMullen again emphasized that the city's long term budget woes predate the recession.
"We've had concerns from citizens regarding the growth in the city's budget over the last ten years," McMullen said.
"The city's budget has indeed grown, but that growth came from conscious decisions by past city councils and the citizens to increase service levels. The millage rate has not kept up with the expansion of service."
In 2000, the city's general fund budget was $14.78 million. The proposed 2011 budget is $27.11 million -- an increase of nearly 85-percent over 12 years. Peachtree City's population has grown by only 17-percent over that same period. However, the city has added close to 30 public safety jobs (and associated equipment), expanded the library, absorbed airport debt, remodeled the amphitheater and poured a large chunk of federally-mandated dollars into the stormwater management program.
"The bottom line is we've increased services across the board without adequately paying for them," McMullen stated.
"Things cost money. For example, we had two IT employees in the 2000. We have four now. We could shut the servers down, shut the Web site down and move back to paper for everything, but I don't think people would be happy with that."
Mayor Don Haddix said the large expansion in the police force was needed to keep Peachtree City safe.
"We've gone from a crime index of 70 to 92 over the past decade," he said.
When a member of the audience countered that rising crime rates suggest the city is not getting a good value for its higher police spending, Haddix countered that "the crime from adjoining counties is encroaching upon us."
"We're doing all we can to keep that at bay," he said.
At the request of Councilman Eric Imker, several department heads detailed their proposed 2011 budgets. Police Chief Skip Clarke, Fire Chief Ed Eiswerth, Liesure Services Director Randy Gaddo and Public Works Director Mark Caspar all presented the non-personnel portions of their budgets.
Imker said he is impressed by each department's efficiency.
"I asked for this because I want the public and council to see that outside of the money being spent directly on employees, we're getting a lot for that $3.5 to $4 million in the budget," Imker stated.
"We're running a tight ship. The money going to the departments outside of salary and benefits is going to tangible items with real value."
The budget will go before council for an official public hearing at next week's meeting. Council must hold three additional public hearings before it can raise the millage rate.
Thursday's budget workshop opened with a contentious back and forth between council and several concerned residents over the city's cart path network.
Joey Petrus, a resident of Hyde Park, and several of his neighbors were unhappy to see cart access to their neighborhood not listed as a top priority path project. Hyde Park and several areas in the city's eastern reaches are not currently connected to the path system.
Mayor Haddix said he would address path priorities in a separate workshop.
"This is a valid issue, but this is not the forum," Haddix said. "We're not going to be adding additional line items to this year's budget. We have to have the money to pay for new paths and right now we don't."
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