The City Council voted 5-4 on Tuesday night for the city to collect the assessments for the downtown Business Improvement District (BID).
However, council members added an amendment that says the city would not go against a property owner who does not pay. That, apparently, would be up to the BID board.
It was specified that no city dollars would go into the BID - even if it has a shortfall in the planned $1 million first-year budget.
The city will review after a year to determine if it will continue doing the collections.
The city will charge a two percent fee to add the assessments on the tax bills for the some 195 property owners involved.
Voting in favor were Erskine Oglesby, Chip Henderson, Anthony Byrd, Jerry Mitchell and Carol Berz. Opposed were Ken Smith, Russell Gilbert, Demetrus Coonrod and Darrin Ledford.
There was also a close vote earlier when the council narrowly approved moving forward with the BID, which is aimed at providing special additional services for the downtown district.
Trustee Bill Hullander had planned to put the assessments on county tax bills.
The County Commission initially went along in a 5-4 vote. Then, Randy Fairbanks switched his vote and the approval was negated.