Local officials have revived the Statesboro-Bulloch County Land Bank Authority, with an amendment to the intergovernmental agreement earlier this year and, more recently, Statesboro City Council's approval of $70,000 funding. The authority's aim is to acquire tax-delinquent and blighted real estate for use in affordable housing redevelopment.
The next meeting of the joint city-county Land Bank Authority board is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 8, in the council chambers at City Hall. Efforts to revive the authority have been underway since 2024, Statesboro Planning & Development Director Justin Williams noted in an interview this week.
"As you know, the Land Bank Authority has been around in Statesboro, but it was basically defunct," he said. "But the intergovernmental agreement that established it was never thrown out, so to speak, so it was just kind of sitting there dormant and we've kind of picked up the pieces and got some new board members appointed with the county and been trying to move forward since."
The local Land Bank Authority was formally established Dec. 3, 2002, as Williams noted in a June 16, 2026, presentation to the mayor and council. As part of that afternoon's multi-topic work session, he briefly reviewed the authority's history, including its purpose, some changes and the request from the authority board for funding.
From ARPA interest
City Council, by a 4-0 vote during that evening's regular meeting, approved the funding resolution. It provided the $70,000 from the city's budget for fiscal year 2026, which ended this Tuesday, June 30, and stated that this was an "allocation from ARPA interest."
This means interest the city government previously accumulated on deposits of money from federal grants received under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. How the city spent the principal amount of the grants was time-limited and restricted in certain other ways that did not apply to the interest.
The resolution further stated, "The allocation should be used primarily for property acquisition, with $60,000 reserved for that purpose."
That leaves just $10,000, which "may be used for closing costs, title work, legal review, property due diligence, or stabilization, and contingency costs necessary to complete and manage acquisitions."
A couple of preamble clauses in the resolution noted that "the City has used the Land Bank Authority as part of its neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing efforts" and "City policy direction includes continuing Land Bank Authority actions to acquire and assemble tax-delinquent properties for affordable housing redevelopment and other public uses."
Tax-lien properties
No specific properties targeted for purchase have been identified, either in the council funding resolution, the Land Bank Authority board's June 3 request resolution signed by board chair Delores Wade Groomes, or the memo that Williams submitted.
However, city elected officials or staff members mentioned a couple of properties as possibilities during the work session. One place mentioned was a vacant, former nursing home. Another was a lot that Williams said was the site of a bus depot, its most recent building now demolished. The city has tax liens of both, he said.
"There's a number of heirs' properties and dilapidated structures and issue-laden properties throughout the city — and county, I imagine," Williams said this week. "Right now the focal point is the city, although they do have the flexibility to operate in the county if they need to."
Updated to state law
Statesboro and Bulloch County's "land bank" was created locally almost 10 years before the state Legislature passed an updated law called the Georgia Land Bank Act, effective July 1, 2012. This law clarified some of the powers of such authorities and made other changes.
One change was, where the Statesboro-Bulloch board, and others like it, originally consisted of just four members, two appointed by the city and two by the county, the 2012 law required adding at least a fifth member to have an odd number and make tied votes less likely. A 2024 joint resolution of the city and county added a fifth board member to the local authority.
Who's on board?
The current board consists of Groomes, who was appointed by the mayor and City Council and chosen by the board members as the current chair; Michael Summers, also appointed by City Council; plus two members, Linda Christy and Mildred Wilson, appointed by the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners; and John Robinson as the "at large" member nominated by the other members.
The 2012 act gives a land bank authority specific abilities to obtain funding by grants and loans. That act and previous state laws give such authorities power to acquire land, especially from sales of tax-delinquent properties.
No eminent domain
But the Land Bank Authority Act of 2012 specifically prohibits local land banks from using one power held by elected local governments. "A land bank shall neither possess nor exercise the power of eminent domain," the current Georgia law states.
However, an authority can sell land and buildings it owns for more than their purchased cost and use the additional cash to acquire additional properties. This factored in Williams' answer when he was asked if more city funding for the authority will be requested during fiscal year 2027, since the $70,000 allocated is, as of Wednesday, a carryover from the previous budget year.
"That hasn't been determined by the authority at this time, by their own board, and I think a big portion of their thought process at this time is, whatever acquisitions they are able to make, they would use those acquisitions as an opportunity to self-fund," he said.
Williams is not an authority member but regularly attends the meetings as the city staff representative.