City HallThursday, November 5
Macon-Bibb OKs $7 million for the Audi site and calls a March vote on OLOST
The Daily Macon team
Macon-Bibb commissioners agreed Tuesday night to put $7 million toward the Mid-Georgia Gateway Joint Development Authority's deal for the Peach County megasite that landed a $4 billion Audi plant. Audi's PILOT payments, or payments in lieu of taxes, would repay the county. The Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority keeps 40% of that money for economic development.
Mayor Lester Miller says the authority is already looking toward a Phase 2. Audi still has to hit job benchmarks to get its incentives.
The Audi deal runs on big numbers
- $7 million
- from Macon-Bibb for the megasite deal
- $4 billion
- for the Audi plant
- 4,500
- jobs mentioned for the plant so far
- 1,500 acres
- at the Peach County site
Source: The Macon Newsroom
- Arena: Miller can allocate the remaining $324 million in bond proceeds
- Convention center hotel site work: $25,000
- Pleasant Hill design plan: paid from a $500,000 federal grant
- Douglass Theatre roof repairs: $194,200
Commissioners also voted to put OLOST on the March ballot, asking voters to renew the penny sales tax for five more years. The Board of Elections still has to approve it. Miller says OLOST helped cut the millage rate from 20.33 to 9.575 mills. If it fails, he says, the county would go back to the other rate or cut millions from the budget. By law, the mayor and commissioners can't take a side.
Macon-Bibb's millage rate fell from 20.33 to 9.575 mills
Source: Macon
View as table
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Before the rollback | 20.33 mills |
| Now | 9.58 mills |
Sources: The Macon Newsroom, Macon