- — Lowndes County Commissioners discussed an issue Monday at its work session regarding a disagreement with the permitting and fees that have been proposed for the expansion of PCA in south Lowndes.
PCA is a major employer and economic force in Lowndes County and has been for more than half a century. Officials were ecstatic just a few short weeks ago to attend the groundbreaking for the $200 million expansion, which will allow the plant to “go green” and be nearly 100 percent self sustaining for its power needs.
The initial fee assessment for the permit was in excess of half a million dollars which county administrators say is far too much on a $6.2 millon construction project. Only actual costs of construction should be included in the construction permit, according to the county, and not the value of the overall project or the equipment that will be installed.
Commissioners gave the go-ahead for the county manager to proceed with the reduction in fees.
Regardless of how the the disagreement over the fees was initiated, the issue needs to be resolved quickly. As the Chamber of Commerce states repeatedly, existing industries are just as if not more important in these trying economic times and should be courted just like new ones would be. These types of fees are routinely waived as are property tax abatements, etc. in order to bring jobs to the community.
Isn’t saving nearly 400 jobs that are already here just as important?
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