Mayor and Commissioners Continue Refining Economic Development Plan in Athens, GA

After years of not raising taxes, should the Athens Clarke County Commission do so in the name of economic development?

That's the issue members could consider during their December voting meeting, after hashing it out during a work session and an agenda setting session in November, according to a story in the Athens Banner Herald.

The group's second meeting, on Tuesday, focused on the same issues in which they tossed out some and embraced other ideas offered by the Mayor's Task Force on Economic Development, the newspaper story said. The 23-member group met for months, refining their proposals into a report that called for a private entity, funded with public money, to handle economic development in Athens.

That idea hasn't gotten off the ground, and probably won't. The Commissioners on the committee have said repeatedly that public money means public accountability, and they favor creating a government-run office. It would be  staffed by a director and two assistants and funded with about $700,000 from a 1/4 mil tax increase.