The Oconee County Code Enforcement Office by the end of the day today had issued eight building permits for five different structures at Epps Bridge Centre.
Three of those permits were for the University 16 Stadium Theatre, the most recent issued today for the interior space for the 70,412-square-foot building. Permits for the foundation and for the shell were issued in October.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously last night to approve loan documents from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) that add $5.8 million in new county debt for construction of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir in Walton County.
The BOC took the action following a financial analysis by County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko showing that the county can handle this and all future debt for the reservoir and other projects without a water rate increase, though he did not guarantee that a rate increase would not be necessary in the future.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to give final approval tomorrow night to loan documents that will add $5.8 million in new county debt for construction of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir in Walton County.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis has promised county officials will provide information to the public on population projections, future water use estimates, and plans for retirement of the debt before the Board makes its decision.
Oconee County residents are most concerned about economic issues facing the county, including the need for economic development and for growth in employments prospects, according to a scientific survey of registered voters conducted just before the elections last November.
The voters also are concerned about the county’s schools, about strains on the county’s infrastructure and about the weak housing market.
Oconee County has $4.7 million in unspent revenue from the 2004 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax of 2004, which expired at the end of 2009, according to the required annual report on SPLOST spending published in yesterday’s edition of The Oconee Enterprise.
The report also shows that the county has spent about a third of the projected revenue from the 2009 SPLOST, which started in calendar year 2010 and will run for six years, ending in December of 2016.
The Oconee County Board of Commissions took the first step last night toward acceptance of $5.8 million in new debt for construction of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir in Walton County.
The action followed approval earlier in the day by the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board of loan documents from the state of Georgia that will allow Oconee County and Walton County to receive a $20 million loan from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) for construction of the reservoir dam.
