Macon-Bibb County wants the Urban Development Authority to issue up to $350 million in revenue bonds to fund the new Macon Arena.
After an executive session Tuesday evening, commissioners approved entering an intergovernmental contract with the authority, which is expected to approve the bond resolution in a special called meeting Thursday morning.
The agreement limits payback on the Series 2026 bonds to $29 million annually and caps the interest rate at 6%.
Commissioners also accepted grants from the Georgia Department of Transportation of $2.8 million for runway paving and lighting with a matching grant of up to $948,000, and a $2.8 million allotment for the runway extension that also requires a $950,000 match.
The county also approved a new Solid Waste and Materials Management Plan covering 2024 to 2035, and lifted the moratorium on new private solid waste facilities that was enacted in 2023 to allow for creation of the new planning document..
COVID-19 delayed plan revisions expected in 2021 and county attorneys have been working with the solid waste department and contractors in recent years to formulate this new plan.
“It’s a 10-year planning document. It’s not really binding. There’s not really rules in it. It mostly is for planning purposes to ensure we have 10 years worth of space to put trash, essentially,” said Senior Assistant County Attorney Sara Davis.
The accompanying ordinance restricts solid waste facilities or expansions within one mile of residences, churches, schools or recreational facilities, and encourages the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission to do the same.
With the closure of Macon’s landfill, the county sought proposals three years ago to provide a ground lease for a private company to build a transfer station to more efficiently remove the estimated 1,300 tons of solid waste collected each year.
That transfer station project is still viable, Mayor Lester Miller said before the vote to approve.
Grants and spending
During Tuesday’s meetings, the commission agreed to a $45,000 match supporting NewTown Macon’s grant application for $165,000 from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to expand the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail through Riverside Cemetery, over the railroad tracks and connect it to a pedestrian bridge over the river.
Commissioners also approved 2018 SPLOST allocations of nearly $9.7 million for courthouse renovations and security enhancements, $217,000 for the Booker T. Washington Center, $200,000 for previously approved sidewalks for Old Clinton Road, and nearly $105,000 for a Kardex paper document storage carousel for the sheriff’s office.
Commissioners also approved budget transfers to cover expenses for vehicle purchases, landfill closure fees, Linear Park improvements, I.T. costs and airport equipment.
Under contract approvals, the county will pay Tyler Technologies $158,000 for software maintenance, spend about $147,000 on radio equipment from Williams Communications, and extend ShotSpotter’s contract by three years at $524,000 annually.
During Tuesday’s public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2027 budget where about a dozen people signed up to speak, the majority of them opposed the county spending money on Flock cameras that can record license plates.
Sheriff David Davis said the system has helped solve about 100 cases, caught perpetrators of violent crimes and helped find missing people, but the opponents decried the invasion of privacy, use of cameras for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, risk of hackers getting into the system, bad cops using the equipment to stalk women and the cameras ineffectiveness to reduce crime.
The owner of the Central Georgia Crematory, Robert Daniels, who has cremated the unclaimed remains of indigent people in the county since 2019, asked for an increase in payment.
Daniels said he handles 90% of the county’s unclaimed remains because funeral homes can’t make money off the $700 allotted for each case — the same amount paid when Lee Robinson was mayor in 1990.
He would like to see Macon-Bibb pay $1,200 per case, as Houston County does to cover the cost of inflation over the last 30-plus years.
Daniels said the number of indigent cremations he’s handled has steadily risen from 19 in 2019 to 101 last year.
Cam Oetter also encouraged the county to make a priority out of funding sidewalks, road improvements for safer cycling and the proposed pedestrian and bike trail connecting east Macon to Milledgeville.
The county is expected to vote later this month on the $220 million budget that covers July 1 to June 30, 2027.
Commissioners also approved the appointment of Bike Walk Macon Executive Director Kaylee Pruitt to the Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority and Pedestrian Safety Review Board and honored Londyn Rodgers, Miss Macon’s Teen and Cherry Blossom Queen.
Here are highlights from the meeting encapsulated in social media posts.
— Peyton Anderson Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
