MONROE, Ga. — An agreement that outlines requirements for such issues as the timing of employing workers and tax payments is now in the hands of state and Rivian officials after a regional development authority's approval Tuesday.
Development authority members also said Rivian's addition to the JDA-controlled Stanton Springs and Stanton Springs North business parks will increase tax revenues to more than $900 million shared by the four JDA counties and Social Circle over the next 25 years.
The Joint Development Authority (JDA) of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties on Tuesday, April 26, voted to approve a final economic development agreement between the JDA, the state of Georgia and electric vehicle maker Rivian Inc.
State and Rivian officials also must approve the agreement, which local officials expect early next week, before the full agreement is made public and shows what Georgia is offering the company to locate on the site that runs along the north side of I-20.
The JDA also approved a resolution to exercise the options to buy 41 parcels of land on the site, pending approval by the state and Rivian.
In the meeting at Walton County's Historic Courthouse, JDA Chairman Jerry Silvio of Newton County said his agency's approval of the documents means "we are taking a significant step toward realizing the original vision of the JDA from more than two decades ago" to develop an industrial park east of Atlanta "with high-tech, good paying jobs for years to come."
"Opportunity like this not only translates into new jobs for our families, but it also means more resources and growth for our counties, providing the opportunity to reduce the tax burden on local homeowners, improve schools and invest in parks, trails and public safety.”
The agreement outlines the legal obligations of the three to develop a $5 billion manufacturing facility on a 2,000-acre site covering parts of the city of Social Circle and unincorporated Walton and Morgan counties.
The agreement states that Rivian will begin making payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) of $1.5 million annually to the JDA beginning in 2023.
If the company does not employ at least 6,000 of its planned 7,500 workers by the end of 2028 then it will be required to pay more, said JDA attorney Andrea Gray.
Gray said local governments receive $80,000 in property tax revenues from owners of Rivian's 2,000-acre site.
After the agreement kicks in, local governments will receive $1.5 million annually from 2023 to 2028 before rising to $12 million in 2029.
Authority member Steve Jordan said the combined PILOT and property tax payments from all companies — including Rivian, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Facebook/Meta — in the two business parks will total $4.6 million annually through 2028 and rise to $30 million in 2029.
If Rivian invests more than $5 billion in the project then PILOT payments will increase as well, officials said. .
The majority of the tax revenues from the two business parks will go to public school districts in the four counties, which will receive 60% and governments the rest.
JDA officials said such a PILOT agreement with a private company was "unique for a development of this scale" because PILOT payments generally do not begin for at least three years.
Gray said the JDA issued $15 billion in industrial development revenue bonds which will be repaid through rent payments from Rivian for its use of the JDA-owned site.
Despite the agreement's promises of significantly increased tax revenues, most area residents who spoke during a public comment section of the meeting still appeared vehemently opposed to the project.
Some also questioned the "ethics" of their actions not to make public its negotiations with Rivian for the site before its December 2021 announcement by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Fay Mealor Long said she doubted JDA members cared about residents' feelings about the project — which they maintain could cause environmental damage and ruin the rural nature of the area around Rutledge.
"You probably laugh at us when you leave here," she said.
She said she had been a "troubled teen" growing up in Morgan County and one authority member, Andy Ainslie, had been the principal of the school she attended.
Ainslie helped steer her toward "better choices" in her life but he now is part of a board that was acting "not ethical" by negotiating in private with the company, she said.
her children attended a private school
Another speaker, Joanie Fitzgerald, said area residents "could care less about the money" and were more concerned about the future of the area's natural resources. She said more information was needed about the effects of the plant's construction and operation on groundwater supplies which they believe Rivian could harm.
"It's not if it's going to happen, it's when it will happen," she said.
But Donald R. Melvin of the Morgan County branch of the NAACP said the plant and its promise of salaries in the $50,000 range meant opportunities for careers for area young people that he never had growing up in Morgan County.
Newton County resident Barbara Morgan said Rivian will help fulfill the vision her brother, the late Davis Morgan, had for Stanton Springs when he helped devise the plan for the business park as Newton County chairman in 1998.
"Highly skilled, high tech jobs are the future," she said. "The opportunity before us ensures a profitable, prosperous future for our children, grandchildren and generations to come who will be able to get well-paying jobs right here where they live."
