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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.
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