Banks County voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, March 6, to decide whether the county can use redevelopment powers to make improvements in economically troubled areas. Also on the ballot, voters will be asked to continue the one-cent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST).
The redevelopment powers would allow the county to take tax revenue from large business projects to be used to provide infrastructure. An example of where this could be used is The Pottery property at Banks Crossing. If a large company makes a commitment to locate on that property, the current property taxes would continue to go into the county’s general fund. However, any new property taxes that come from the development would go into a special fund. The board of commission would decide for how many years the extra taxes would go into the special fund. It could be 10 to 20 years.
This fund would be used to provide the infrastructure needed for the development to locate on the property, such as sewer service, sidewalks or other infrastructure for the company to locate on the site.
Brad Day, Banks County’s community planner and economic developer, said that redevelopment powers “help local communities to refurbish areas of concern.”
“The redevelopment power will create a revenue stream for infrastructure projects and renewing that area,” Day said. “We want to make sure the Hwy. 441/I-85 area stays healthy. The key to that is to ask the voters to give us the redevelopment powers. It would create a self-funding infrastructure district.”
Since the infrastructure would likely be needed before the project locates on the property, the county could issue bonds to be repaid as the taxes come in.
“This is a way to not take from the general fund and make new businesses pay their way,” Day said. “It would not mean any change to the millage rate. It doesn’t change property taxes. I’m very excited about the opportunity this will bring.”
SPLOST
An election will be held on Tuesday, March 6, to allow the continuation of the one-cent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST).
The current SPLOST is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2012, and the tax, if approved by the voters in March, will start Oct. 1, 2012.
Revenue is projected at $14.4 million, with the money to be used for projects in the county, as well as in Maysville, Gillsville, Lula, Alto, Baldwin and Homer.
The county’s portion of the revenue would be $12.8 million and the projects that would be funded with the sales tax would include: road and bridge projects, $4.8 million; parks and recreation projects, $1 million; paying general obligation debt, $450,000; water and sewer projects, $4.4 million; public safety facilities and equipment, $1.9 million; senior center, $30,000; vehicles, $192,000; and plotter equipment, $7,500.
Projects in each of the towns would include:
Maysville: water system improvements, $160,000; renovating and equipping city hall, $100,000; parks and recreation facilities, $60,000; and road improvements, $80,000.
Gillsville: improving and constructing roads, $20,000.
Lula: water and sewer facilities, $30,000; and road projects, $15,000.
Alto: water facilities, $40,000; and road and bridge projects, $20,000.
Baldwin: sewer system facilities, $100,000; road projects, $50,000; and water system improvements, $50,000.
Homer: water system improvements, $216,000; fire station construction and equipment, $248,000; road improvements, $216,000; town hall construction and equipment, $80,000; and real estate acquisition, $40,000.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bankscrossing
Redevelopment Powers spells DISASTER! Come on, really? This seems to be a way for our commissioners to play a shell game with money. I realize this sounds simplistic but what’s wrong with the current method? Be wary of any topic that gives government POWER.
I could understand if we were experiencing a major growth in certain areas. I could understand if we had a healthy mix of commercial & industrial commerce to build upon; we have neither. I feel this puts us in a very high risk category with no real, clear cut proposal for growth or benefit.
In the proper place and time this is a good proposal but we “Banks County” are not there yet!
Georgia State University has performed a study on this very topic and has concluded basically the same as I have mentioned above. Managed properly and in the correct, thriving environment this would be very successful…people we don’t have it.
A small excerpt from the GSU study is listed below and you can read the entire study at http://aysps.gsu.edu/TAD_compiled.pdf
Costs and Risks of TADs (Tax Allocation Districs)
While TADs appear to have been highly successful in certain regions around the country, TADs do represent a financial gamble on the part of local governments. The increased growth from a TAD investment needs not only to cover the upfront costs of the local investment in a particular project but also any related increases in public service costs.
The use of TADs can potentially reduce the net wealth of jurisdictions in three key ways:
• Jurisdictions may use anticipated TAD revenues to finance projects whose benefits do not materialize sufficiently to cover the costs of the debt issued or other public sector investments;
o Further, TAD debt is expensive because it is considered to be high risk by bond markets; and
o While jurisdictions may not explicitly back this debt, bond rating agencies (if not the bond market) may penalize a locality for a default.
• TAD investments may stimulate growth that increases demand for public services but may not generate sufficient new revenues to meet this demand. This problem may be particularly acute for school districts.
• Localities may use TAD resources to give benefits to businesses that would have made the necessary improvements or investments without public support (or might have made the same investment in another part of the jurisdiction outside the TAD); in other words, jurisdictions are giving out public money to a business that could have been better invested elsewhere.
TADs may also come with social equity issues that have been associated with previous redevelopment policies. For instance, TADs may explicitly or inadvertently force low to moderate income families out of neighborhoods as new investment and redevelopment occurs.
With all due respect, Mr. Day has been on the job awhile and this is his proposal to expand Banks. Not my idea of bringing in business. I would like to see him beating the bushes while trying to entice business to locate here. Not build a hide-n-seek game with money we might get from business locating here.
Warren Buffett , an extremely intelligent and wealthy investor once stated: “If you need to use a computer or a calculator to make the calculation, you shouldn’t buy it.” We shouldn’t buy this. Vote NO!
Check NFPA and tell me that's not enough staffing ? More then you get in the metro with fully paid depts... quit stirring the pot !!
Getting on blogs and talking down to your brothers and sister FF regardless of paid or volunteer tells me you don't belong in public safety at all.
Frankly if Banks is so awful then take your backside somewhere else . And no I didn't double count at all... your hate and pride seems to blind you.
To all public safety and law enforcement. Be safe and ignore those that hate.
United we stand
If you want more local business activity, feel free to put *your own* money up and start one. Or, convince another businessperson/corporation to risk/invest *their own* money. That way, if the business fails, the taxpayers won't be on the hook for the failure. And if the business succeeds, you can laugh all the way to the bank with the big profits from your restaurant, dry cleaners, hardware store, or whatever.
Governments always do a lousy job picking winners and losers, and we the taxpayers always get stuck with the bill.
Just say NO to county-funded "development". It's a boondoggle. If the good business is there to be had, somebody *will* invest privately. That kind of growth is slower, but steadier, and far healthier for all.