The great John Mellencamp once said, “I fight authority, and authority always wins.”
In the case of local governments, it could be phrased, “We create authorities, and authorities always spend.”
A discussion was raised Monday night at the Habersham County Board of Commissioners meeting about a Constitutional Industrial Development Authority.
This body was created in 1964 and kept in place by local legislation in 1985, but has been mostly dormant ever since.
Attorney Donnie Hunt said the constitutional amendment creating the body said it would include three county commissioners, the presidents of chambers of commerce in Clarkesville and Cornelia and the president of an unspecified civic club.
The draft resolution brought to the table Monday night was to reactivate this body with Commissioners Ty Akins, Bruce Palmer and Bruce Harkness, along with Chamber of Commerce President Elle Van Doorum, to create an authority capable of doing bond issues to pay for the T-hangar project at the airport.
That project, estimated to cost around $3.4 million, lost its funding source when the county handed over its American Rescue Plan funds to save Habersham Medical Center from financial crisis as it transitions to North Georgia Health System this summer.
The county has applied for a OneGeorgia Rural Innovation Fund grant in that same amount to pay for the project, but it has not yet received a response.
Led by grant writer Lauren Long, who has already paid for her own salary and plenty more with $253,000 in grants awarded in just seven months, this is the proper avenue for the county to pursue paying for this project.
The best option is to form a public-private partnership with an entity or individual benefiting from the airport’s expansion plans who could help secure appropriate funding.
And let’s remember, it’s our airport and we can control the wording of the public-private partnership’s contract.
But we do not need another authority.
The commissioners, facing a large room of already-angsty folks worried about county spending, wisely took the measure off the agenda and did not address the subject after it was described to them in detail by Hunt.
The Hospital Authority of Habersham County, come July 1, will literally only exist to service the $36 million-plus debt it carries from previous spending.
This is a major sore point for citizens of our county who have seen their taxes rise and are wondering what is in store for the next budget cycle. However, Northeast Georgia Medical Center taking over our hospital is the best possible outcome for the health of our community and its citizens.
We don’t need any more debt in this county. We have a lot of problems that need solving, and they are going to require sound strategies and measured spending.
We simply cannot get any further into the red or the cycle will never end.