The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors ducked a $2.35 million industrial development obligation during Monday morning’s meeting but found themselves on the hook for an additional $150,000 in professional services money to the Golden Triangle Development LINK.

First, LINK representatives told the supervisors approximately $2.35 million in obligations to the Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority were no longer needed.

In 2021 the county entered an agreement with LCIDA that obligated it to issue $2.35 million in bonds to support upgrades to water and sewer infrastructure at the industrial park, clearing and grubbing land at the Infinity Megasite and building a 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot speculative building.

LINK Chief Operations Officer Meryl Fisackerly explained the water and sewer improvements were funded via the economic development package passed to support Steel Dynamics’ $2 billion expansion project.

“Now that we’ve located the Aluminum Dynamics facility, the site cleaning and the building are no longer needed,” she said.

The board voted unanimously to strike the expenditure from its agreement with LCIDA.

With the good news out of the way, LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins told the board it needed to pony up another $150,000 or so in funding for professional services.

“Our contract allows us to be reimbursed for legal, surveys, environmental, engineering and the other costs that we incur to get work done,” Higgins said. “This budget year, that budget was set at $100,000, and we’ve already spent $200,000.”

Much of that money was spent in connection with landing the aluminum mill, Higgins said. He asked the supervisors to approve an additional $50,000 over the money that’s already been spent to cover the rest of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

“An additional $100,000 gets us to where we are today, but we know we’ve got work out there being commissioned,” Higgins said. “We would like you to entertain going to $250,000 total. That gives us $50,000 to play with. If it looks like we might go over that, we’ll be back before you, but we have high hopes we will not.”

District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders wanted to know why the LINK needed the money.

“Why do you need the money?” Sanders asked. “Do you not have the money in your account?”

“I don’t want to pay bills on your behalf that we can’t get reimbursed on,” Higgins said. “These are costs our organization is incurring at your request and for you.”

Higgins said Lowndes County had a higher workload than Oktibbeha or Clay counties, which the LINK also represents.

“Y’all have a higher number of projects that are looking and in development and a higher number of projects that actually locate,” Higgins said. “… We felt like $100,000 was a good enough number in September. Little did we know the 54,000-pound gorilla was going to walk in.”

District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said the money was well spent.

“If we’re going to be in the game with economic development, it’s going to cost money,” Brooks said. “A couple hundred thousand dollars for me is a hell of a lot of money, but in the scheme of things it’s not much money. … You don’t get a $2 billion investment that doesn’t cost money (to recruit).”

Brooks moved, and President Trip Hairston seconded, to increase the LINK’s reimbursement for professional services to $250,000. The motion passed unanimously.

Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.

READER FAVORITES

• 

  Man shot following illegal dice game in Clay County

  By Paloma Green • 18 hours ago