Writer: Charles Oliver
Published February 10, 2022
Yahoo!news from The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
Whitfield County ranks at the 94th percentile of all Georgia counties in wages, according to Gary Mongeon, a tax allocation district (TAD) consultant with KB Advisory Group in Atlanta.
"You've got some good-paying jobs in this county," Mongeon told members of the county Board of Commissioners and members of the public Wednesday night.
But the county ranks at only the 62nd percentile in terms of household income, he added.
What explains that discrepancy?
Mongeon said 50% of those who work in Whitfield County at a job paying $40,000 or more live outside the county. He pointed to a 2018 study by Believe Greater Dalton that found one key reason why higher-earning people live elsewhere is a lack of attractive and affordable housing. Believe Greater Dalton is an organization sponsored by the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce that is working to improve Dalton and Whitfield County.
Mongeon and Kirby Glaze from the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government were brought in by commissioners for a special called meeting at Dalton State College's Health Professions Building to brief them and the public on TADs.
TADs freeze the value at which a property can be taxed for general revenue. Taxes collected on additional value created by improvements to the property are dedicated to pay for infrastructure, public artwork or other amenities to attract a developer or developers to that area.
Whitfield County voters in March 2021 rejected a measure that would have given commissioners the power to create tax allocation districts.
Voters in 2014 gave the city councils of Cohutta, Dalton, Tunnel Hill and Varnell the authority to create TADs. County voters rejected TADs that year also. The Dalton City Council has exercised those powers, creating four. Varnell has created one. Commissioners have the power to freeze county taxes in TADs created by the cities and dedicate the additional revenue to amenities in that district.
The county participates in Dalton's TADs around the Dalton Mall and covering the downtown business district, which were created in 2018.
The Dalton City Council has asked the county to take part in TADs in the Hammond Creek area and on Market Street and the area around that, which were created in 2020. The Varnell City Council has asked the county to take part in the TAD at Patterson Farms, a planned 490-unit subdivision currently under construction. The Varnell City Council created that TAD last year.
Glaze told the commissioners if they agree to take part in any of those TADs they do not have to commit 100% of their tax revenue but can negotiate a lower amount.
One question that came up several times from members of the public was whether property owners within a TAD would pay a lower property tax rate than those outside the TAD. Glaze said they would not. The revenue generated from the value of the property as it was assessed when the TAD was created will continue to go into the general fund, he said. But any increased value from development must be spent on improvements within the TAD.
Commissioner John Thomas asked where tax revenue from a home that was built within a TAD after it was created would go. Glaze said the tax that was generated by the undeveloped land would still go to the general fund but the tax revenue on the house itself would have to be spent within the TAD.
Mongeon noted that two of the TADs the county is being asked to take part in — the one in Varnell and Dalton's Hammond Creek area — would help increase the county's housing supply, which is not only a goal of Believe Greater Dalton but part of the county's master plan.
He said the lack of housing is hindering population growth and family formation.
"Whitfield County's population growth has had basically no population growth over the last decade," he said.
The U.S. Census Bureau said Whitfield County grew by only 265 people, to 102,864 in 2020 from 102,599 in 2010.
Mongeon said Whitfield County's population growth lagged peer counties such as Bartow, Douglas, Floyd, Gordon and Hall. He also said that even though all six counties saw their populations grow overall they saw the number of people under 18 shrink, with Whitfield County seeing the largest decline in the number of people under 18. Whitfield County's under-18 population fell 9.3%, or 2,300. That's almost double each of the other five counties.
Monegeon said the decline in the number of children will have an impact on local school systems in coming years, with fewer students meaning less state funding.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen asked about the possible risks and downsides of TADs.
Glaze said in the first decade of this century several local governments in Georgia issued bonds backed by the revenue they anticipated receiving from their TADs. He said the Great Recession hit in 2008, wiping out the investment that had been planned in those TADs, and the governments didn't have the revenue they were counting on. Glaze said it is his understanding Dalton and Varnell do not plan to issue bonds backed by revenue from the TADs commissioners are being asked to take part in, that any projects would be funded as revenue comes in. He said if that is the case the only downside is those projects won't be done if there is another recession.
Some commissioners confirmed after the meeting that if the county does participate in any TADs it will only be on a pay-as-you-go basis and no bonds will be issued.
Some commissioners said after the meeting they found the session informative but were not sure if they would vote to take part in any TADs beyond the two in Dalton the county is already taking part in.
"It could be a benefit," said Commissioner Greg Jones. "But voters have voted it down twice. My mind is not made up yet. We've got this $10 million we are getting from the federal government this year. We can use that to put sewer in the county to promote growth."
Whitfield County is receiving $20.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. It received half of it last year and will get the other half later this year. Commissioners plan to use part of that money to expand sewer into the unincorporated parts of the county.
"We need to take each TAD proposal individually and keep an open mind," said Thomas. "We need to make sure that what we do is good for the entire county."
The presentation can be viewed on the Whitfield County government Facebook page.
