Oconee Government Alum Makes Us Proud

Earlier today Matt Forshee, former planning director and director of economic development in Oconee County, e-mailed me the annual report of his current organization, the Fayette County Development Authority. Matt has obviously done well in Fayette, and his annual report shows some impressive accomplishments. Some of the highlights:

• His organization created 750 jobs from new projects, most of which will be filled as new positions. These positions will see an annual average salary of approximately $55,000 for a total annual payroll of $41,250,000.

• There will be over $175 million in direct investment in Fayette County through all phases of these projects. This includes purchasing of land, developing buildings and buying and installing equipment.

• Annually, these projects will create an estimated $5,000,000 in property taxes. However, during the first 10 years of operation, these projects will save an annual estimated average of $2,251,867 in property tax payments due to tax incentives they received. Still, these projects will create an estimated annual average of $2,748,132 in property taxes during that same initial 10 year period. Depending on phasing, some of these initial 10 year savings and payments will be carried out over different 10 year periods. So, over 20 years, these facilities will create an estimated $77,481,320 in property taxes.

This is a great example of how well a unified economic development campaign can pull high quality jobs into a suburban community. There are some things brewing in this regard in Clarke and Oconee counties -- lets hope we can do as well as Fayette County. Check out this link for a copy of the report and more the results. Matt was one of the best and brightest young government officials ever to reside in Oconee -- congrats and best wishes to Matt!

On a separate matter, will be taking a bit of a hiatus from blogging -- will be back in action the middle of next week.