Georgia Trend Daily – March 15, 2021
March 15, 2021 The Center Square
Georgia’s net tax collections total nearly $2B in February
Jason Schaumburg reports that Georgia’s decision to delay processing tax year 2020 individual returns helped lead to a net tax collection of nearly $2 billion in February. Georgia followed the Internal Revenue Service’s guidance of not accepting and processing 2020 returns until Feb. 12.
March 15, 2021 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Helping Georgia’s small businesses survive COVID
Mary Ann DeMuth reports that Georgia’s small businesses – those having fewer than 500 employees – employed 1.7 million Georgians before the COVID-19 pandemic and accounted for 99% of the total number of businesses in the state. Programs designed to help keep these businesses afloat during the pandemic and keep employees on the payroll have made a significant impact.
March 15, 2021 Georgia.org
PAC Worldwide Invests $47 Million in Fulton County Manufacturing Facility, Creates 400 Jobs
Staff reports that Governor Brian P. Kemp announced last week that PAC Worldwide, a global manufacturer of custom packaging solutions, will open its first location in Georgia with a $47 million investment in Fulton County. The company’s new advanced manufacturing facility in Union City is expected to open in summer 2021 and will create 400 jobs.
March 15, 2021 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LG says it could build plant to replace SK Innovation’s
Andy Peters reports that South Korean company LG Energy Solution raised the stakes in its fight with SK Innovation, saying it could build its own factory in Georgia to make batteries for electric vehicles. SK is building a plant in Commerce, but the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled last month that technology the company plans to use there was stolen from LG.
March 15, 2021 WABE 90.1
UPS Driver-Turned-Philanthropist Talks Overcoming Financial Challenges, Investing, $20M Scholarship Fund
LaShawn Hudson reports that a philanthropist and former UPS driver knows what it feels like not to have the means to pay for college. Calvin E. Tyler Jr., 78, vividly recalls when he was forced to drop out of the Baltimore-based HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) known then as Morgan State College.
March 15, 2021 Savannah Morning News
Local economy, employment rebounding from COVID recession
DeAnn Komanecky reports that a strong fourth quarter rebound in area employment is one of several positive signs of economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, according to the latest issue of the Coastal Empire Economic Monitor. The Georgia Southern publication authored by Michael Toma in the university’s Department of Economics, reports that 6,000 jobs were gained in the Savannah metropolitan area during the fourth quarter of 2020.
March 15, 2021 Rome News-Tribune
TAD has become vital tool in Rome’s redevelopment efforts
Doug Walker reports that Rome uses the Tax Allocation District law for what is essentially an incremental rebate to developers on the back side of a project. The tax increment is the difference between the amount of property tax revenue generated in the base year the TAD is established and the amount generated after the property is developed or redeveloped.
March 15, 2021 Covington News
Southern Living honors Covington bakery as one of region’s best
Taylor Beck reports that Southern Living magazine recently unveiled its top bakeries in the South for 2021, and Bread and Butter Bakery was near the top of the list. Bread and Butter, located on Covington’s Town Square, was said to boast “a full menu of pastries, soups, and sandwiches, and has become a favorite place to meet with friends over an early morning breakfast bun (try the sausage, egg and cheese stuffed rolls) or a Turkey Cranberry sandwich for lunch.”
March 15, 2021 Athens Banner-Herald
Athens-Clarke expects to receive $60 million in third round of federal COVID aid
Stephanie Allen reports that Athens-Clarke County is expecting to receive $60 million from the American Rescue Plan, according to an announcement from Mayor Kelly Girtz. This set of funds will be delivered to the joint city-county government over two years.
March 15, 2021 Newnan Times-Herald
Satellite broadband bill defeated in state house
Sarah Fay Campbell reports that a bill to expand the definition of “broadband” in the state of Georgia by allowing satellite broadband technology to be considered broadband was soundly defeated in the Georgia General Assembly on Crossover Day. House Bill 520 was sponsored by Rep. Philip Singleton,R-Sharpsburg.
March 15, 2021 Georgia Health News
Will new incentives for Medicaid expansion sway Georgia leaders?
Andy Miller reports, Amy Bielawski is hoping for what seemed unlikely a year ago. Back then, the Trump administration approved Gov. Brian Kemp’s Medicaid waiver plan for Georgia. The plan would have added some people to the state’s Medicaid rolls, but it also would have set up new eligibility requirements for the program — such as employment or school enrollment.
March 15, 2021 New York Times
A Political Hurricane Blew Through Georgia. Now It’s Bracing for More.
Mark Leibovich reports that the death threats finally appeared to be subsiding, Brad Raffensperger was happy to report. “I haven’t gotten one in a while,” said Mr. Raffensperger, Georgia’s embattled secretary of state, expressing hope that political passions might be cooling off in the state — though “cooling off” is relative in the country’s most heated battleground.
March 15, 2021 Georgia Recorder
States question whether new federal stimulus law rules out tax cuts
Laura Olson reports that President Joe Biden’s massive pandemic stimulus law pumps a welcome infusion of federal aid into state and local government coffers — but one brief section is raising questions about whether states are barred from cutting their own taxes if they accept the federal help. “Democrats in Washington and in the White House are not going to tell me, or the Georgia General Assembly, that we can’t cut taxes for hard-working Georgians,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said at a press conference Wednesday.
March 15, 2021 Capitol Beat News
Controversial Georgia elections bills head for finish line in General Assembly
Beau Evans reports that ontroversial legislation to overhaul voting by mail in Georgia and how voters can cast early ballots is racing toward the finish line in the General Assembly amid a sharp outcry from local voting-rights and church groups. Two bills, both proposing dozens of changes to Georgia’s election system, recently cleared major hurdles in the current legislative session and are on a collision course to final passage as top lawmakers in the state Senate and House of Representatives decide which measures to keep and which to scrap.
March 15, 2021 Politico
GOP doesn’t need election reform to win, Georgia’s lieutenant governor says
Maya Parthasarathy reports that Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan on Sunday said he wants to expand voting, calling many voting reform proposals “solutions in search of a problem.” “Republicans don’t need election reform to win, we need leadership,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” disavowing former President Donald Trump’s attempts to undermine faith in elections.
March 15, 2021 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump’s influence on Georgia GOP politics endures even in defeat
Greg Bluestein reports, over the past four years, a blue wave swept away every GOP state legislator in DeKalb County and drove huge margins that helped Joe Biden flip the state in November and powered the Democratic wins in January’s U.S. Senate runoffs. But as DeKalb GOP Chair Lane Flynn’s term expires, he expects to cede the reins of the county’s party to a pro-Donald Trump activist who wants to pull the organization further toward the former president’s political brand.
