Warner Robins to move forward with special tax district

Warner Robins City Council will hold a public hearing Monday on a recently proposed tax allocation district before voting on its creation.

The Warner Robins Redevelopment Agency proposed the 170-acre district in September with hopes it will attract a developer to build and operate a hotel and conference center beside City Hall at the site of the recreation center.

The TAD’s creation would allow property values within a defined district to increase incrementally over 30 years. Taxes collected above the original property value, which is $55.5 million in the proposed district, would go into a special fund for redevelopment in the the area.

A TAD was first proposed in 2012, but it wasn’t successfully established. The TAD proposed this year includes 355 parcels beside Ga. 247, spanning from Duke Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard and stretching east between Young Avenue and Robins Drive before ending near Davis Drive and Commercial Circle.

“We’ll hold a hearing and then (the council will) vote on it,” Assistant City Attorney Kristi Minor said.

With approval from the council, the Houston County school board and the Houston County Commission, the district would be established Dec. 31.

In other business Monday, the council is scheduled to consider changing the city’s gifts, gratuities and solicitation policy to allow city employees to accept money, gifts or loans valued at no more than $100.

The previous ordinance included a maximum of $30.

“That number has actually been in our policy for a very extensive amount of time,” Minor said. “So they were just trying to update it to keep up with the times.”

The pre-council meeting begins at 4 p.m. with a regular meeting to follow at 5:30 p.m. at 700 Watson Blvd.

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To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or follow her on Twitter @Lauraecor.

This story was originally published October 4, 2015 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Warner Robins to move forward with special tax district ."