The Augusta Land Bank Authority is the latest group to petition the Augusta Commission for dwindling American Rescue Plan funding. Land bank officials are asking for $1 million in funding as part of a proposed memorandum of understanding with the city.
The memorandum of understanding was presented to members of the Administrative Services Committee at the Oct. 25 meeting. The request was for $1 million, but commissioners bounced around several lower dollar figures before deciding to send the matter to the full commission with no recommendation.
“I need more information before I vote on a dollar figure like that. They need to explain why they need the money when we give them the land, they sell it and then keep the proceeds,” District 10 Commissioner John Clarke said.
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However, Augusta Tax Commissioner Chris Johnson, who also serves as chairman of the Augusta Land Bank Authority, says Clarke’s comments are only partly true.
According to Johnson, the land bank does not get the majority of its property from the city. Much of the property accumulated is either privately donated or purchased outright.
“There are some instances where the land bank does keep the proceeds, but usually if it is city owned property, then the sale money goes back to the city,” Johnson said.
All proceeds that are collected by the land bank are then used to purchase more property. The bank employs only two staff members, and the presiding board does not receive any compensation, according to Johnson.
Johnson says that quite a bit of land the bank manages on behalf of the city are tax seizures that receive no bids at public auction. It is then up to the bank to attempt to upgrade the property to make it sellable.
The need to rehabilitate property is precisely why the land bank is asking for the American Rescue Plan funds, according to Johnson.
“(The land bank) only receives $141,000 a year from the city and most of that money is to pay the salaries for our two employees,” Johnson said.
The memorandum of understanding states the land bank will use the money to “renovate properties for the purpose of resale to eligible homeowners, clearance and maintenance of lots for improvement of active development nodes in neighborhoods and demolition of select properties beyond rehab standards to remove nuisance properties from streetscape.”
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However, District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight says she agrees with Clarke that the commission must know exactly where the funding will be spent before turning over what is almost the last of the federal funding.
“We can’t just hand over a million dollars without knowing what it’s for. I need to see some addresses, I want to see the big picture here,” McKnight said.
Shawn Edwards, the land bank’s director, says that it is not possible at this point to come up with a comprehensive list because there are thousands of tax delinquent possible foreclosures that may or may not be suitable for rehab.
“I can tell you that we are not fixing up houses so someone can have rental property; we want to create affordable housing for families,” Edwards said.
The Augusta Commission will take up the matter at the next meeting which is set to occur on Nov. 1.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
