The possible revenue from property and ad valorum taxes is $2,000,000. The possible revenue from the franchise fees is $1,000,000. For the record, you are already paying these franchise fees. That is a total possible revenue stream of $3,000,000.
Now that study was done back in 2009. There has been some depreciation in our home values. Even if our property values dropped by as much as 30%, we could still raise $1.5 million from property taxes. And the lesson learned from Dunwoody is that the impact of franchise fees may more than double, with estimates of up to $2.5 million. Any way you cut it, these are significant revenues.
The worst cost estimate of annual expenditures from the feasibility study is less than $800,000. Possible revenues are more than three times the worst case cost scenario. It may be possible in the long run to fund the city operations completely through franchise fees.
Now to address the misunderstandings.
Initially property taxes will increase by one mill for all residential and business properties:
While property taxes will increase, it is unlikely that they will go up anywhere close to the legal limit. The Mayor and City Council will set the rate. Because the possible revenues far exceed the anticipated costs, it is likely that the rate will be set much lower than 1 mill.
1. Business taxes and fees support residential services. If not enough businesses stay in PC, the City will likely borrow to make ends meet and then call for a tax increase vote..
The combined effect of the loss of revenue from businesses that may be annexed prior to when the city stands up is not significant. Given that we may be able to fund the city entirely through franchise fees, there will be no need for any tax increase.
2. The charter authorizes PC City to add-on to ad valorem tax for vehicles, boats, trailers, motorcycles, etc.
That is true.
3. Franchise fees on utilities can and will be increased.
Franchise fees are regulated by the state. The city cannot arbitrarily increase these fees. There is one possible increase we may experience. Georgia Power has a tiered fee system Unincorporated areas of the county are charged 1.0801% of electric usage while incorporated areas are charged at a rate of 2.9109%. This only applies if there is an agreement between the city and the power company. As there will be no agreement to start, there will not be an immediate change in the rate. You can see the information here http://www.psc.state.ga.us/calc/electric/gpcalc.asp.
4. These increased costs to local businesses would be passed along in the form of higher prices to us.
Actually, we pay the franchise fee to these businesses and they pass the fees on to those areas that are qualified to receive them. No higher prices!
5. There is no new garbage plan contract guaranteeing a lower price. There is a hope it can become cheaper.
We know that trash pickup costs are directly related to the number of trucks required, the distance between stops, number of employees needed, and gas. The county took the costs for disparate areas and averaged them over the county. That means that densely populated areas like Peachtree Corners are subsidizing the areas with fewer homes and more distance between them. Our trash cost will likely be less than the county cost just because of our demographics.
6. Once the City incorporates, it must negotiate a Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) with the County. There is no County tax relief for Redundant services.
Actually, the county is required to provide the services we will not at the same cost as it provides these services to unincorporated Gwinnett. What SDS does is identify those tax dollars that county is collecting for services the cities provide and rebate them back to the cities.
The charter gives the city council the rights to set fees, assessments, and to issue debt bonds. It reserves the right to spend money with impunity and we have seen what happens when a government can spend at will without the means to fund it—big debt. The city will need buildings, IT infrastructure, employees, employee benefits including retirement, legal council and more to operate. We already b\ought these things once for the County. Why buy them again for a city?
The City Charter gives the city government the same rights and powers as any other municipality. Our government is limited to three services. If the “rights” are not required to provide these services, the “rights” cannot be exercised. In government today, any persons spending “with impunity” without the will of the people will be voted out of office at the next opportunity.
The government will not need “buildings”. There is ample space for lease right here in Peachtree Corners. Why would the city build another building when the goal is to populate the existing businesses?
The Mayor and City Council are part-time positions. They will not be eligible for pensions. There may be two employees, a city manager and a city clerk. There are good 401K-type retirement plans available that would be used for retirement. No unfunded pension liability.
For the record, Dunwoody is a full service city. They have only 5 full time employees and lease space for city operations.
The IT infrastructure, legal counsel, municipal court, code enforcement, etc. can be contracted out. That allows for flexibility.
In the long run, we may actually be able to run the city with the current services on franchise fees alone once a reserve is established.
Get the real facts. Vote YES November 8th!
