Ga. lawmaker to file pair of bills on development authority

An influential state lawmaker intends to file a pair of bills next week that would formalize oversight of development authorities.

The bills from state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, follow a series of investigative reports by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News last summer that showed loose financial controls, mismanagement and improper per diem payments to some board members of the Development Authority of Fulton County.

Development authorities play key roles in real estate and business recruitment in Georgia, issuing lucrative incentives often with little oversight. Their boards are typically appointed by elected leaders and tend to be made up of well-connected business or political figures.

Legislators have long tried and failed to reform development authorities.

“The development authorities and the bond lawyers, and very successful business entities, like the system as it exists today and feel like it’s working and change is not necessary,” Oliver said.

Under Georgia law, members of development authorities in the state’s four most-populous counties can be paid a per diem or stipend for their service. But Fulton’s is the only development authority that does.

Oliver’s first bill would cap per diem payments available to members of large development authorities at the amount of money General Assembly members make annually — which as of now is $16,200. It also would give ethics boards at the state or local level the power to investigate.

Critics have long chastised Fulton’s authority as a rubberstamp that gives developers huge tax breaks to build in red-hot real estate markets like Midtown or along the Beltline.

“There’s not a lot of sunshine on these transactions,” Oliver said.

The AJC investigation showed a former chairman, Bob Shaw, received more than $1 million in combined stipend and salary payments over a 10-year period. Two other former members, Walter Metze and Samuel Jolley Jr., received more than $100,000 each. The AJC investigation found the three were at times paid multiple per diems per day.

These payouts were happening despite no evidence that per diem rates were even authorized as required by law, the Fulton County Commission later found.

Oliver’s second bill would allow local governments, include school systems, to object to annexations because it would hurt residents financially. Annexation fights have landed in court, which she said wastes time and money.