Albany city commissioners OK funds for downtown development

ALBANY — When it comes to downtown redevelopment, new Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan said Tuesday morning she’s willing to be the one to “blink.”

Subadan introduced a plan to the Albany City Commission Tuesday that will allow her, with commission oversight, to use as much as a quarter of the funding in the city’s Deal-Closing Fund to stimulate growth in the city’s central business district.

The fund, which is one-third of the credits collected by the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia as a hedge against deregulation that never came, have been returned to the city’s Utility Board over the last decade. It has a current balance of slightly more than $18.7 million.

“The city has been in a staring contest over downtown redevelopment for years,” Subadan told the commission. “It’s time one of us blinks.”

Subadan assured commissioners that safeguards have been drawn into her plan to ensure the fund is available for its primary use, creating jobs in the community. Among the safeguards she outlined:

— Total disbursement (for downtown development) will not exceed 25 percent of the fund;

— The outstanding balance for development will never exceed $5 million;

— Every project funded must have a job-creation element tied to it;

— Oversight of the funding will be through the city manager’s office;

— If there is an immediate need for funds loaned for redevelopment, it shall be repaid in full with accrued interest from the city’s reserves;

— Funds used are a loan and will be repaid from new taxes in the downtown Tax Allocation District at a rate of 1 percent above the interest rate being collected on the Deal-Closing Fund.

Asked by Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta to hold off on a vote to give the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and the Downtown Management Authority an opportunity to look over the plan, Subadan and Ward V Commissioner Bob Langstaff pointed out that time has become a factor.

“There are burgeoning projects this would bring in for a landing, and they would have a tremendous impact on our city,” Subadan said.

Langstaff added, “You can talk about these other agencies, but the only ones who have anything to do with downtown development is this group right here. There’s some stuff on the horizon that needs immediate attention, and we need to get the ball moving.”

Ward VI Commissioner Tommie Postell, who chairs the joint city/Albany Utility Board Long-Term Financial Planning Committee that voted in May to allow Subadan to explore using the job-creation fund for development loans, said the time had come for the city to take action.

“EDC and ADICA are not going to get any funds from the Long-Term Financial Planning Committee,” the Ward VI commissioner said. “They don’t need any money; they’re not doing nothing. We need to progress, not retrogress.”