Albany’s first Commercial Improvement District up for approval this month

ALBANY – It’s not every day that a group of business owners voluntarily ask for a tax increase, but that’s what has happened with the proposed first Community Improvement District that could be approved this month by the Albany City Commission.

Business owners in the Albany Westover CID in northwest Albany, which follows the Westover Boulevard and Dawson Road corridors, say they are hoping that the special tax district will boost aesthetics and safety. The district is being so designated to raise funds that can be matched with other government funding sources for improvements like traffic and sidewalks.

“The idea is that there are things the group can do collectively that individual property owners can’t,” Colony Bank CEO T. Heath Fountain, who helped organize the community improvement district, said.

By increasing the tax millage rate by 3% to 5% above the amount collected for city, county and school taxes,, the district can fund improvements that go beyond the scope of what the city of Albany can provide.

For instance, Fountain said, some of the first projects could be the installation of additional security cameras and more safety patrols through a private company.

The state of Georgia approved the CID concept in 1984, and the first to go into effect was the Cumberland CID in Cobb County, Fountain told city commission members during a Tuesday presentation. There are about 20 in existence in the state, all but one in the Atlanta metro area.

The commission requested approval to bring the concept to Albany in 2023, and legislation was passed that year.

“Once we found out about this opportunity, we got a group of property owners together and we raised $75,000 to look at the feasibility of a CID,” Fountain told commissioners.

Eighty-two of the property owners, representing 71% of those in the CID boundaries and more than 75% of the total property value of those properties, approved the formation of the proposed entity.

The law requires at least 50% of property owners representing at least 75% of the value of the property within a CID to give approval. The millage rate increase applies only to businesses and will not affect residential property.

“(It) will have no impact on the current values or other taxes that are being approved,” Fountain said “There will be no diminution from this for other entities.”

In answer to a question from Commissioner Diana Brown, Fountain said that the CID will not include other parts of the city, but that those who formed the Albany Westover CID are willing to give advice to those in other areas who are interested in the concept.

“I’d be glad to go to meetings and share the lessons we’ve learned,” he said. “I would love to see this be a turning point for all areas of Albany. Somebody’s got to get out and do this first.”

In addition to giving its approval, the commission and Mayor Bo Dorough will be responsible for making some appointments to the CID board, and property owners will elect three members.

Approval this month will allow for tax collections for the district to begin this year.