Stephens County and Toccoa City Commissioners gathered Tuesday morning at the Cornerstone Restaurant in downtown Toccoa for a joint city-county meeting to discuss economic development. During the meeting, both sides heard from Stephens County Development Authority Executive Director Tim Martin on two different topics: the Big A Road and Toccoa By-pass sewer expansion project and economic incentives for prospective businesses. On the topic of incentives, Martin said he would like some fresh input from city and county commissioners about what types of incentives they are willing to offer a prospective business. “What if we had a company that wanted to move to the community and they were going to bring 100 jobs?” asked Martin. “Would we talk to them about their tap fees for water, natural gas, wastewater? What does the thought process look like?” Martin said there is not always time to get that input on short notice if negotiating with a business over possible incentives. Officials also noted that Stephens County has to compete with neighboring areas, like South Carolina, that are offering larger incentives for industries. Meanwhile on the topic of expanding sewer down Big A Road and onto the Toccoa By-pass, Martin says work continues to try and obtain grants from federal and state sources to help build the project.
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