Bucking a history of secrecy, the Cobb County Development Authority released an accounting of its revenues and spending this week at the request of a new member.
The budget information is the latest change at the authority, which has functioned for years without much outside involvement while providing hefty tax breaks to businesses, largely unbeknown to county residents. The push for more openness at the authority has been led by former Cobb Commissioner Thea Powell, who was appointed to the authority last spring.
The authority, funded by the fees it charges companies to issue bonds, is expected to take in $317,000 in project fees this year. Another $3,000 in revenue will come from interest income, according to the financial estimates provided by authority Executive Director Brooks Mathis. The authority does not receive county funding.
The authority is expected to spend $163,500 this year, including $60,000 in economic development and marketing activities in partnership with the county and the Cobb Chamber to market Cobb to businesses. Another $96,000 will pay annual fees the chamber charges for staff and meeting space.
“I was told numerous times that there was no way to do a budget,” said Powell, who hadn’t yet reviewed the information in detail. “But if there is no budget, how do we keep track of what funds are coming in and going out?”
Because the authority's funding is based on the deals it completes each year, developing a budget was difficult, Mathis said. “We didn’t know what our year-to-year outcomes would be. We just saved a lot of money and operated very tightly,” he said.
Powell’s budget request arose from her second meeting on the board, when the authority was asked to provide a grant to the Kennesaw Museum. She balked at donating to organizations not connected to economic development.
Since then, the authority has changed its donation policies to grant money only to organizations for economic development and tourism-related purposes, Mathis said. No money has been allocated for donations in 2012.
In addition to the budget, Powell and authority colleagues Donna Rowe and Chuck Martin also successfully lobbied the authority to change its policies on the information it releases about the tax incentives it provides. In the past, the authority granted the incentives, devised by a group of county officials that included the commission chairman, without knowing the amount of the tax breaks it was offering to businesses.
The new members pushed for more information, which they began receiving late last year. The information also will be provided in authority meeting minutes, which can be reviewed by the public.
“I’m not trying to be a maverick,” said Rowe, who was also appointed to the authority last year. “My [modus operandi] is to make sure the citizens of Cobb feel comfortable about what we are doing in the government."
"People want to know what these businesses received and what the county is receiving in return," Powell said.
The development authority is set to discuss the budget at its February meeting.
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