Lynn Long
He pleaded with legislators last week not to introduce a bill that would de-annex the land, located on Battlefield Parkway, from the city.
Northwest Georgia Bank obtained the property through a foreclosure. The bank is attempting to sell the property and requested de-annexation from the city because of its ban on Sunday alcohol sales.
“We have been in negotiations to sell the property subject to the availability of Sunday alcohol sales,” bank executive vice president Kerry Riley told the city council on Feb. 11, prior to them refusing to vote on the de-annexation.
Riley expected the council’s reaction and immediately submitted the de-annexation request to the state legislature.
But almost two weeks later, Long is still fighting to keep this property from being annexed into the county.
The city of Fort Oglethorpe will have Sunday alcohol sales on the ballot in November, according to Long. His confidence, he said, is based on conversations with both city council candidates for the ward 5 seat to be elected on March 19. The candidates, Judd Burkhart and Clay Kissner, have both specified their intent to let citizens vote again on Sunday alcohol sales, according to Long. Kissner previously said he did not think the people needed to vote again on the issue, while all along Burkhart has encouraged another election for the citizens.
A letter from Long, dated Monday, Feb. 25, was sent to four local House lawmakers. This letter requested lawmakers not to introduce local legislation to de-annex any property from Fort Oglethorpe. Long specified in the letter that the question of Sunday alcohol sales would be on the November ballot.
“My intent is to make sure everybody in the legislature and north Georgia knows the city does not want this commercial property to be de-annexed from the city,” Long said Friday. “I am sorry they got this property in a foreclosure and need to sell it, but we don’t want property de-annexed from the city.”
The property is valued at more than $4 million and is located off Battlefield Parkway between Dietz Road and Dyers Bridge Road.
“I have never heard of the state legislature removing property through de-annexation without the city’s approval,” Long said. “And if the state de-annexes them, we will just annex it right back. That is our right because of an intergovernmental agreement (based on providing water and sewer to areas within the county).”
The current legislative session is about half way complete. Sen. Jeff Mullis, a Republican from Chickamauga, did not comment whether local legislation to de-annex property is a common occurrence but plans to handle the issue delicately, he said
“The Fort Oglethorpe delegation is carefully considering all sides of the issue surrounding the potential de-annexation of properties and will come to a decision soon,” Mullis said.
Think I'm kidding? here's a short course on banking (I promise,it'll be real short)
When you want to know how healthy a bank is,look at its "Texas Ratio".This figure was developed during another banking crisis back in the 80's to give a snapshot of how likely a bank in Texas was to fail after making stupid loans on speculative land (sound familiar?). Anyway, the "ratio" in the formula is calculated by dividing the value of the lender's non-performing assets (Non performing loans Real Estate Owned) by the sum of its tangible common equity capital and loan loss reserves. A pretty good number is in the 30's.Once you get into the 70's or 80's,uh-oh.Any number above a hundred and your bank may soon be somebody else's bank. NWGB's latest number? 121
Source-http://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/northwest-georgia-bank.html
So now that they've run the thing into the ground, the taxpayers naturally are the life preserver.They are losing money with both hands,yet they have enough cash to try to buy a legislator or two.
This is precisely why people no longer trust government or business.
I don't work for TVFCU but if you have an account at NWGB, you might want to move your money. Their ratings are no less than 3 stars and most are 4-5.
http://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/tennessee-valley-cu.html
Probably if the bank was taken over by the FDIC and a new bank name came in; and if you are a depositor with less than the $250,000 in your account, you wouldn't even see the difference. The FDIC is smooth, not like the old "run on the bank" days.
Stockholders get screwed, depositors get a quick kiss and go on.