Using golf carts in PTC just got pricier

Non-PTC residents will have to pay $100 a year to ride on city cart paths

The vote on raising golf cart fees is in. Peachtree City residents will pay $15 per year while non-residents will pay $100 per year for licensing carts on the city’s cart paths.

The Jan. 7 vote by the City Council also abolishes the previous reciprocal agreement with Tyrone.

The vote on the ordinance change had Mayor Vanessa Fleisch, Councilman Mike King and Councilman Phil Prebor voting in favor and Councilwoman Kim Learnard and Councilman Terry Ernst opposed.

The current fee for city residents is $12 for up to five years and will increase to $45 for a three-year registration, essentially $15 per year.

The current fee for non-residents is $60 per year. Cart owners living in Tyrone were not charged with non-city resident fee under a reciprocal agreement between the two municipalities.

The vote increased the non-resident fee to $100 per year, including residents of Tyrone. An annual registration fee of $15 will be in addition to the non-resident fee.

Asked by Prebor about the number of carts registered, City Clerk Betsy Tyler said there are approximately 11,400 golf carts registered to Peachtree City residents. Another 1,000 are registered to non-city residents. Tyrone residents have 300 golf cart registered to operate in Peachtree City.

Learnard said she had received an email stating that some in Tyrone use golf carts to take their children to school. Children from both cities use Crabapple Lane Elementary School.

Former Peachtree City resident Robert Mudrinich, with a current Fayetteville address, said he sometimes drives his cart to areas on the city’s south side, adding that he is willing to pay the $60 non-resident fee but thought the $100 fee was a “huge jump.”

“Why create an ‘us and them’ between the city and the other areas?” he asked. “I will still come here, but not in my golf cart.”

Councilman Ernst agreed, stating his belief that many non-residents come the city to eat or go to concerts and not just to ride the cart paths.

“This is nickel and diming the citizens,” Ernst said in advocating not raising the non-resident fee.

None on the council objected to raising the fee to $15 per year. Fleisch, Prebor and King agreed with raising the non-resident fee, with King noting that some city residents do not use the paths.

The topic on fees has been discussed at several meetings and a fee of $15 per year for city residents, or $45 based on a three-year registration, was included in the FY 2016 budget adoption.

The 2016 budget provides for a total of $1.7 million for multi-use paths. That equates to .9 mills or $97.16 in property taxes for a home valued at $269,000, Tyler noted.

The council when adopting the FY 2016 budget last summer noted that the budget would provide for an additional $225,000 for cart path work bringing that total to $665,000, some of which could be offset by the increase in cart registration fees which would be raised to an annualized figure of $15.