The political pulse of Barrow today

Depending on your point of view, Barrow County manager Jock Connell’s move to create two new management positions is either a good move toward professionalizing the county government, or it’s nothing more than adding another layer of bureaucracy. Connell has suggested the board of commissioners create a public works director position and an economic development position.
Of the two, the economic development position is the most interesting. That idea suggests two main points.
First, it is the recognition that Barrow County has not been very successful in industrial development efforts. Instead, Barrow has become a bedroom community for Gwinnett County, Athens and other nearby communities that have created jobs. A growing amount of retail has followed those bedrooms and those have created some new jobs, but the low-skilled nature of those positions has not created much affluence.
This is a problem for Barrow that is now becoming very apparent. Bedrooms bring in school kids that have to be educated, but they don’t bring in much in the way of a tax base. For example, last year it cost $8,300 per child to educate in the BCSS. Some $2,300 per child came in from local tax revenues. That means a house with two kids in school would have to pay $4,600 in school property taxes just to educate those two students. Not many houses in Barrow County pay that much in school taxes.
The difference has to be made up from commercial and industrial businesses and their tax base. But with an underbuilt industrial sector, Barrow is left to struggle for every tax dollar, especially now as house values have undergone a free fall.
The second aspect of the suggestion to create an economic development position at the county level is a recognition that the current structure of economic development isn’t working. Many consider it amateurish at best.
That isn’t too unusual and a lot of communities are now looking to bring those functions closer into the county government sphere for greater accountability. That is apparently what Connell is thinking, to give a more professional tone to the community’s economic development efforts and to hold people accountable for the results.
Should be interesting to see what happens as these ideas move forward.