By Kevin Duffy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Peachtree City was hoping for an agreement to end what it calls “double taxation.” But it didn’t happen.
Instead, a called meeting between the City Council in Peachtree City and the Fayette County Commission over funding of the county’s emergency medical services solved nothing.
“It didn’t end right,” complained Peachtree City Mayor Harold Logsdon.
Peachtree City has its own EMS but still helps fund the county’s to the tune of $220,149 a year. That’s nearly 20 percent of the tax-funded portion of the county EMS budget.
Logsdon and council members Judi-ann Rutherford, Stuart Kourajian and Steve Boone want the county to create an EMS tax district that excludes Peachtree City from contributing to county EMS.
But most of the county commissioners rejected that idea. They favor doing a study of whether taxpayers would be better off with one EMS for everyone in the county.
“If we could save Peachtree City citizens more than $220,000 a year, what is the reluctance in exploring that?” asked Commissioner Linda Wells.
“I can save $220,000 right now,” Logsdon said. Peachtree City is nearly built out, so if it continues to help fund county EMS, “our people would be paying for the growth of Fayette County,” according to the mayor.
The issue may not be resolved until the end of February, he said, when the city and county are supposed to reach a state-mandated 10-year agreement on division of services. If they can’t reach an agreement by then, they could lose state financial assistance.
EMS taxation has been a sore point with Peachtree City for about six years.
Jack Krakeel, the county’s director of fire and emergency services, did a presentation showing that EMS began in the 1970s as a county function. In 1987, Peachtree City started its own EMS.
“The decision that your city made many years ago is what’s caused this double taxation,” Commission Chairman Greg Dunn said.
Krakeel said if Peachtree City stopped contributing to county EMS, homeowners would see little benefit. The owner of a $300,000 home, for example, would save $5.54 a year, according to his presentation. The owner of an equivalent home in unincorporated Fayette would pay an extra $2.02 a year to make up for the shortfall.
“Identity and control” issues would make it difficult to consolidate the county and city fire departments and EMS, Krakeel said. The managers who would be sorting through the issues would have to decide whether their own jobs were necessary.
“There’s no longer a need for two fire chiefs,” he said.
At times, the EMS discussion got testy.
“Why don’t you want to find out the best way to do it?” Commissioner Peter Pfeifer asked Logsdon. Pfeifer wants consolidation studied.
“Pete, we want to do our own EMS,” Logsdon replied.
Both sides agreed their emergency response times are excellent, which is key to saving lives.
“Brain death occurs between four and six minutes,” Krakeel said. “If you can’t respond in four to six minutes, the survivability of those patients goes to almost zero.”
But Wells claimed the county’s EMS is the more efficient operation. “Our people are getting a better bang for the buck,” she remarked, because county EMS covers a bigger area and serves more people while having a response time as good as Peachtree City’s.