Whitfield County Board of Education approves deal to help fund Varnell development, county hasn't yet

Jun. 6—By a 3-1 vote, the Whitfield County Board of Education on Monday approved an intergovernmental agreement among the school system, the city of Varnell and Whitfield County that would allow a tax allocation district (TAD) to help fund high-end commercial development at Patterson Farms.

Varnell has also approved the agreement; the county has not.

School board member Jamie Johnson cast the dissenting vote.

"The voters of Whitfield County have voted against this twice," Johnson said. "So I don't see how I can vote for this."

A similar vote died for lack of a second at a school board meeting last year.

"We've been working on this for two years," said board Chairman Bill Worley. "We've went over all of the details and made some adjustments to some of the terms. We feel this is good for the county, and in the long run will be good for the school system."

The residential portion of Patterson Farms, a development on Cleveland Highway in the south end of Varnell, had a grand opening last year, but developers have said funding from a TAD is necessary to create the high-end commercial part of the project. The site of Patterson Farms was a former horse ranch and was mostly an empty field before development started.

TADs freeze the value at which a property can be taxed for general revenue. Taxes collected on additional value created by improvements to the property are dedicated to pay for infrastructure, public artwork or other amenities to attract a developer or developers to that area.

Several people spoke against the agreement, saying they oppose giving subsidies to a private business and noting that voters twice turned down giving the Whitifeld County Board of Commissioners the power to create TADs.

"The people have voted this down twice," said Darrel Long.

In 2014, Varnell voters gave that city's City Council the power to create TADs, and the council designated the site of Patterson Farms a TAD two years ago. Under Georgia law, the county government and local school systems can sign on to agreements in city TADs if they believe it is in the public interest.

Voters in 2014 gave the Dalton City Council the authority to create TADs. The City Council has created four: the downtown business district, the Hammond Creek area around the north bypass and Pleasant Grove Drive, the area around Dalton Mall and the West Walnut Avenue/Market Street area. The county participates in Dalton's TADs around the Dalton Mall and the downtown business district, which were created in 2018, and Hammond Creek, which was created in 2020.

Varnell Mayor Tom Dickson said he is pleased the school board approved the agreement.

"We think this will benefit the entire county," he said.

"The latest proposed version has terms that our board feels will provide economic stimulus for commercial growth in the area while providing safeguards to limit the amount of new property taxes that would be deferred under the plan," said Whitfield County Schools Superintendent Mike Ewton. "The agreement also provides the BOE (Board of Education) with approval authority if future changes to the TAD plan are proposed and sets parameters for how long the developer would have to begin the project. The TAD agreement would end immediately upon completion of the project or at the end of 10 years, whichever comes first."

Ewton said the long-term benefits to the school system would be higher tax revenues at the conclusion of the TAD agreement brought on by commercial/retail development that does not exist today. He said in the shorter term benefits would be new Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) and personal property tax income as soon as the planned retail businesses go into operation.

An ESPLOST is a 1% tax on most goods sold in the county that can fund school system capital projects.

When a TAD agreement for Patterson Farms was brought before the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners last year, Commissioner Barry Robbins motioned to approve the agreement but the motion died for lack of a second. Commissioner Robby Staten was absent from that meeting, recovering from surgery. He said if he had been at the meeting he would have seconded Robbins' motion and voted for the agreement. He said if the agreement comes before the commissioners again he will vote for it.

Because the measure died for lack of a second and wasn't voted down, it can come before the commissioners again if commissioners agree to put it on a meeting agenda.

Robbins was at the school board meeting on Monday, and he said he believes the school board's approval will lead the commissioners to take the matter back up.

"But I don't know when," he said.

Robbins said he still supports the agreement.