Peachtree Corners has little more than a month to settle on a facility for city operations, a bank for the city's accounts and how to build an annual budget.
Mayor Mike Mason, city council members and their paid consultants spent much of Tuesday's work session considering those details and others, in an effort to build a government from scratch before Peachtree Corners officially begins operation July 1.
"We're going to beat this to death until we get it right," Mason said.
Tuesday's public meeting was the longest in the city's brief history, a two-hour presentation from consultants from Sandy Springs and Johns Creek on how best to identify and complete the city's most-urgent tasks.
Chief among them is finding office space for the city hall.
John Kachmar and John McDonough, the city managers of Johns Creek and Sandy Springs respectively, have identified at least four options ranging from 3,325-square feet and 5,470-square feet at nearby Technology Park. The consultants said another larger space -- more than 8,500 square feet -- is available in the 6600 block of The Corners, a little farther away from the main arteries through the city.
"It’s a tight market for smaller space right now," McDonough said. "We’re out looking, but we need to make a decision quickly on this."
Council members also reviewed a draft of an annual budget, which pegs the city's spending plan at about $2.9 million with a dedicated reserve of about $500,000 set aside per year.
Councilman Alex Wright expressed reservations about setting aside so much of the city's budget on reserves.
"Building up large reserves of money could lead to us wasting a lot of it," he said. "It's always going to be tempting" to find other uses for taxpayer dollars.
For property owners in Gwinnett County's first new city in 56 years, paying city taxes will be as simple as reading an additional line on their annual county tax bill. That's because Peachtree Corners reached a deal with Gwinnett to handle tax billing and collection.
Tax bills will be sent to residents on August 15 and then due on October 15.
Kachmar and McDonough suggested the city post the proposed millage rate at 1 mill -- the highest allowed under the city's charter -- with an expectation that the rate will be reduced during the budgeting process. Setting the rate lower, they said, would prevent the city from raising it if revenues were smaller than expected.
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