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Published Saturday, November 07, 2009 in Local

Stimulus bonds could add infrastructure at mega-site

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Times-Herald

Coweta County has been allocated some $14.6 million in "recovery zone bonds" as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal stimulus package.

The bonds are intended to encourage significant industrial investment in Coweta County. They may end up being used to add needed infrastructure to the Moreland-area "mega-site."

The 1,200 acre property, officially known as the Bridgeport site, has oft been touted as a potential site for a large industry, such as an auto manufacturer. But there are quite a few access and infrastructure issues that need to be worked out.

There are two types of ARRA bonds.

The economic development bonds are to be used for infrastructure that will eventually become public, such as roads, water and sewer lines, and even treatment facilities.

With those bonds, the U.S. Treasury will pay 45 percent of the interest on the bonds, said Theron Gay, Coweta County administrator.

Coweta has been allocated $5.84 million in the economic development bonds.

The county has decided to divide the economic development bonds between the Coweta County Development Authority and the Coweta County Water and Sewerage Authority. The water and sewerage authority is currently set to control $3.5 million of the $5.84 million. However, that is just preliminary and can be adjusted, depending on what is needed.

Those authorities won't be using the bonds themselves; nor will they be responsible for paying them back. The developer of whatever project is built with the bonds will be responsible for that.

At last week's meeting of the Coweta County Water and Sewerage Authority, the authority discussed the possibility of some of the bonds being used to build a wastewater treatment facility on the Bridgeport site. The facility would be built to the authority's standards, and would be turned over to the authority for ownership and operation.

Roads to serve the property could be built with the CCDA's portion of the economic development bonds.

The recovery zone facilities bonds can be used for almost any kind of private investment. The $8.76 million in bonds are tax-exempt, which means that people who buy the bonds won't have to pay taxes on the interest income from the bonds. The bond issuers will also get a tax-exempt rate, which is "a substantially better rate" than a standard revenue bond, Gay said. Some types of facilities can't be built with the bonds, such as health clubs, liquor stores and gambling parlors.

Though the Bridgeport site, owned by Pope & Land, has been discussed as a possible beneficiary of the bonds, nothing is set in stone.

"We have a couple of prospects that are considering... are thinking about doing some things fairly quickly that might be able to take advantage" of the lower-cost bonds, Gay said.

The Bridgeport owners "are considering it, and looking at the possible opportunity to utilize some of this," Gay said. "There are also some other businesses that might be looking at it as well.

"We don't have any contracts or anything," Gay said.

Coweta County Development Authority President Greg Wright said Thursday in his president's report that "we have already had several companies express an interest in these bonds as a financing mechanism."

The bonds can be divided amongst various projects, Gay said.

The county was required to inform the state by Nov. 2 whether or not it intended to use the bonds.

The state is asking that bond sales take place by July, though the federal regulations only require that the bond sale be complete by Dec. 31, 2010.

If, come July, it is decided that the bonds won't be used after all, there won't be any penalties, Gay said.

"All the details are still being worked out, about who would apply," Gay said. "The point, at this stage, is the county has issued a notice of intent to utilize" the recovery zone bonds.

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