Hearing On Tuesday For $155M Bond Sale For Presbyterian Homes

Oconee County will hold at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Courthouse in Watkinsville what could be the only public hearing on the issuance of $155 million in revenue bonds for Presbyterian Village Athens.

County Attorney Daniel Haygood will serve as the hearing officer at the meeting, which is required by the United States Internal Revenue Service before the county can approve the issuance of the tax-exempt bonds.

Officially known as a TEFRA hearing, from the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 that requires it, the hearing gives the public an opportunity to comment on the use of the tax-exempt funds by the county.

The $155 million authorization dwarfs bonds sold by the Industrial Development Authority in the past.

Westminster Presbyterian Homes Inc. of Quitman can use the revenue generated by the bonds to refinance and finance the costs of acquiring land and for construction, furnishing and equipping its continuing care retirement community planned for U.S. 441 north of Hog Mountain Road.

Haygood and attorney Jim Woodward, who advises the county on bond sales, said issuance of the bonds by the Development Authority does not obligate the Authority or the county in any way regarding the bonds.

For more on this story, please go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Daniel Haygood