Possible Tax Hikes on the way for Peachtree City?

Hey Peachtree City…..facing a projected shortfall of $757,128 for fiscal year 2010-2011 and a projected $621,674 shortfall in the current year’s budget…..Peachtree City Council is looking at making some tough decisions.  Officials are not only contemplating using reserve funds but also projecting tax increases.  City staffers are projecting a .269 mill property tax hike for fiscal year 2010-2011 which begins on October 1st.  This increase would be equivalent to a $26.90 property tax increase for homes with a fair market value of $250,000.

There will be multiple opportunities for public discussion on these matters as Council and City officials work on budget recommendation set to be presented in June.   Staffers project an increase in the city budget from the projected revised figure for this year of $26.541 million to a tune of $29.881 million in Fiscal year 2014.

As the City addresses the anticipated shortfalls in the current year’s budget, all directors have been instructed to look for 2.5% cuts in their budgets.   The city will undoubtedly use reserve funds but it should be noted that even doing Peachtree City’s reserve coffers will still be relatively in good shape.  The city’s reserve fund should ideally be at 20 percent of the annual uses of funds for the city.

The worst shortfall this year for city revenues comes from recreation program fees, which are down $200,000 from projections. The city has also taken hits in electric franchise tax ($139,000); interest earnings ($148,513); city court fines ($128,500) and building permits ($113,052).

The economic downturn has not only impacted home values but also the City’s ability to attract and retain commercial business, corporations, and retailers.  

Studies show that for retail, Peachtree City’s vacancy rate so far in 2010 is 11 percent of available retail space, down from 13 percent for 2009 and up from a rate of 7 percent in 2008.  There are currently 1.91 million square feet of available retail space inside Peachtree City, of that 218,054 square feet are currently vacant.

The two oldest village shopping centers Glenloch & Aberdeen Villages are suffering the most from the economic downturn.  Glenloch Village has a 48 percent vacancy rate. Aberdeen Village hosts a vacancy rate of 22 percent.

The City’s industrial park is not doing much better.  Peachtree City has more that 1.4 million square feet in the industrial park.  Approximately 47 percent of space available is currently unoccupied.  Approximately 318,000 square feet of that space is represented by the ghost of the PhotoCircuits Company which was once one of the county’s largest employers. 

My wife was a former employee of PhotoCircuits and estimated that the business has been closed down since about 2003 or so.  The city also still has 473.23 acres of empty industrially zoned land available, same as last year, the study shows.

As Albert Einstein once stated, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. ”  There is plenty opportunity for many of us to contribute for which that much has been given.