About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2022)
8A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, May 18,2022 Developers highlight needs for diversified jobs, tax base by Julia Fechter jfechter@dawsonnews.com Jobs and the local tax base were front and center during Development Authority of Dawson County chairman Brian Trapnell’s presentation to the Board of Commissioners at the beginning of their May 5 voting session. A representative from DADC now gives a quarterly update to the board regarding Dawson County’s economic outlook and the development authority’s stra tegic plan. Trapnell has been the DADC chair since the beginning of this year. Employment Trapnell began his presentation by mentioning the county’s top private employers. At the top was North Georgia Premium Outlets, with a collective 1100 employees between its stores and site man agement. Prominent grocery chains like Walmart, Kroger, Publix and Ingles also made the list along side companies in the manufac turing, retail and/or food indus tries. Trapnell thanked the small employers in addition to the larg er ones for the roles their busi nesses play in the local economy. Dawson County’s unemploy ment rate for the first three months of 2022 averaged around 2.5 percent, which Trapnell called “amazing” given the positive sense that “folks are working.” “It makes for a tight labor mar ket, and I think that puts upward pressure on compensation which we may see in a variety of forms,” he said. “I think we see that those who want to find work are finding work.” He went on to share statistics about workers’ average weekly wage in Dawson County. Weekly wages are an average of $750 for Dawson workers, compared to $670 and $710 for employees in White and Gilmer counties respectively. Workers in Lumpkin and Pickens counties earn on average weekly wages of $840 and $976, while Hall and Forsyth workers earn a couple hundred more at $1,040 and $1,064 respectively. The highest-paying jobs tend to be in the medical field, said Trapnell, with retail/food service positions typically among the lowest-paying. “When we think about the jobs we ‘want’ in terms of higher-pay ing wages, we have fewer of them, and when we think about the jobs paying least, we have more of those,” Trapnell said. “What that tells us is that we have an opportunity to grow with our existing workforce and help them be more successful and earn more wages over time.” Tax base The DADC chair also dis cussed key points of the county’s tax base. In terms of acreage, 74 percent of Dawson County land is either agricultural or conserva tion property. Commercial and residential uses comprise most of the remaining quarter at 4.2 and 21.2 percent respectively. Industrial and all other uses only make up .2 percent of land use. Trapnell explained that the goal is for the county to maintain a 60-40 percent split in terms of commercial and residential in the tax base. “Tax collections are currently being driven by residential use, but we ultimately want to main tain this 60-40 split to maintain a stable tax base over time,” Trapnell said. A residential acre is worth about $61,000, while a commer cial acre is worth about $75,000. Trapnell pointed to newly-hired Director of Economic Development Kevin Herrit as a key partner in helping promote diversification of Dawson County’s economic funding structure. Projects Trapnell reminded the board that the Peaks of Dawson project is currently under construction, with a fifth payment or draw being made for the complex. When acknowledging the area’s housing costs, he nodded to immediate past DADC Chair, Tony Passarello, who was pas sionate about the affordable hous ing project as a solution for “those in our community often struggle to find a place to live.” Trapnell elaborated that the forthcoming apartment complex aligns with the development authority’s goals of helping create affordable housing for everyone who wants to live in the county, particularly workers. The DADC also mentioned its work with the state and federal governments to secure a broad band infrastructure grant of over $1.3 million for the community at no cost to the county. Local funds for the grant are coming from a private group, Ellijay Telephone Company, who’s allocating a little over $675,000. DADC has partnered with ETC to take advantage of the latter’s fiber network and resources to build about 35 miles of high speed fiber optic cable. The improved broadband networks will serve 563 customers in 14 unserved census block groups across the southwestern, middle and north portions of the county. He shared that a to-be- announced business is interested in investing $4 million in the county, and there is a 50,000-square-foot warehouse coming to Lumpkin Campground Road that is expected to net 25 new jobs and invest $8 million into the county. To Trapnell’s earlier point about the tax base, he described mixed-use developments as an option to help diversify the local economy. As an example, he mentioned the forthcoming Pointe Grand mixed-use development off of Ga. 400 North. That complex is expected to have 8,500 square feet of retail space, two restau rants and two large medical office buildings, an assisted living facili ty and a hotel, according to Trapnell’s presentation. He also mentioned the oft-dis cussed Etowah Bluffs develop ment, which was proposed for a third time before the Planning Commission earlier this year. Trapnell explained that the DADC has a “close partnership” with Fox Creek in terms of hav ing the developer plan to carve out land for industrial develop ment at no cost to the develop ment authority. The proposed parcel size for that portion of the project is currently under discus sion, said Trapnell, but he clari fied it’s “substantial enough” to align with the DADC’s strategic plan of introducing new business es that are in concert with target industries. He added they’ve actively part nered with Fox Creek themselves long before public discourse began on the project, just as the DADC would do with all stake holders looking to come to the community and expand. “When we think about partners that are looking to respond to the community and represent the community’s interest in develop ment, they’ve represented very good faith in having those dia logues... with everyone along the way,” Trapnell said. Kemp signs fiscal 2023 state budget, with raises for teachers By Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service Gov. Brian Kemp signed a $30.2 billion state budget Thursday that includes pay raises for teachers and state employees. The fiscal 2023 spending plan, which takes effect July 1, is just shy of the record $30.3 billion fis cal 2022 mid-year budget cover ing state spending through June 30. It includes the $2,000 final installment of a $5,000 pay hike for Georgia teachers Kemp prom ised on the campaign trail four years ago. Most state workers also will get $5,000 raises, while larger increases will go to correctional officers in the adult and juvenile prison system plagued with high turnover rates. State retirees will receive then- first cost-of-living adjustment in 14 years. The budget also contains a $180 million increase in mental health spending, the largest in the state’s history, and $28 million to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers from the current six months to a year. In the criminal justice arena, the budget funds a new state trooper class of 75 cadets, an expansion of the attorney gener al’s human trafficking unit and a newly created gang prosecution unit. “We have prioritized education, public safety and health care, even when we faced truly unprec edented times,” Kemp said during a budget signing ceremony at the University of North Georgia’s Blue Ridge campus. Kemp said state coffers are flush with enough money to cover the various spending increases because he reopened Georgia’s economy earlier than many other states during the early months of the pandemic. But Democrats attributed the additional spending to the avail ability of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan a Democratic-controlled Congress passed shortly after President Joe Biden took office last year. “After calling Democrats’ American Rescue Plan a ‘slap in the face for hardworking Georgians,’ Brian Kemp is hypo critically trying to take credit because he thinks it will help his chances of reelection,” said Max Flugrath, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. While the state pours addition al funds into education, public safety and health care, the budget also made room for a one-time $1.1 billion tax refund. A phased- in $1 billion state income tax cut will kick in starting in 2024. The refunds are starting to go out to taxpayers this week. WE DELIVER! 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