Financial troubles in Lumpkin County, Georgia, are so severe that the county is considering mortgaging its library, courthouse, and jail to pay its bills.
Bill O’Leksy, who was appointed by a grand jury to investigate county government operations in 2000, said the crisis, which includes a $15-million-plus short-term debt that exceeds the county’s annual $12-million operating budget, came from several years of closed government, budgetary negligence, and wasteful road paving, according to the January 14 Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The county’s former sole commissioner, Charlie Ridley, claims that the debt is actually closer to $5 million and that the extent of the problem is being exaggerated by political opponents.
Shortly after succeeding Ridley this year, Steve Gooch approved a measure to raise county property taxes by approximately 2 mills, which will help provide long-term financial stability. But right now, Gooch said, “we need some quick cash.” If the county buildings are mortgaged, he said, a quasi-governmental authority would be set up so that the buildings could be leased back to the county.
Posted January 22, 2001.