By JAMES SALZER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA, Ga. — State officials thought they had gotten a good deal in 2002 when they paid $5.3 million to buy the old Tift College campus in Forsyth in hopes of turning it into a training facility for school leaders.
Six years later, the former campus in Middle Georgia’s Monroe County is scheduled to be the new headquarters of the state Department of Corrections. And some lawmakers worry that it has become a money pit that will wind up costing the state more than $50 million.
“It is a boondoggle,” House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans) declared last week, expressing a sentiment repeated by several legislators.
One of those is Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell), who used to run a House subcommittee that handles the prison department’s budget.
“It’s going to help the economy of Forsyth, but it’s going to cost taxpayers of this state money at a time we can ill afford to be throwing money at such projects,” Powell said. “It is an economic development boondoggle.”
Prisons officials defend their plan to move the headquarters of the department from Atlanta to Forsyth and to build a training facility. They argue that it will save the state millions of dollars by centralizing the department in a location closer to more prisons.
Gov. Sonny Perdue, who backs the move, is asking lawmakers to approve borrowing $31.3 million in the upcoming fiscal year to prepare the campus’ buildings and other facilities for the move. That money is on top of $17.5 million approved in the past two years to create plans and renovate buildings to prepare them for training facilities, which are expected to open late next year.
If the funding is approved, the Department of Corrections headquarters could move to the campus in mid-2010. “Gov. Perdue supports the Department of Corrections’ move to Tift College because of its central location to prison facilities throughout the state and proximity to the Georgia public safety training center,” a Perdue spokesman, Marshall Guest, said. “The relocation of DOC will allow the agency to more effectively and efficiently fulfill its mission.”
House budget writers have included $15 million in the fiscal 2009 budget for the project, but it’s a long way from winning final approval.
The Tift College campus was opened in 1849 as a Baptist school for women. Mercer University acquired the school in 1986 but closed it within a year and sold it in 1994 to Florence Hicks Alexander. She opened Ebon Academy, a school for gifted children.
Alexander closed the school and declared it bankrupt in 1996.
Monroe County officials bought it in 2000 for $9.1 million, and they talked to local state officials about buying it. A state-sponsored study released in 2001 recommended the facility be devoted to education and training.
Then-Gov. Roy Barnes backed the state purchase of the campus for $5.3 million in 2002, with a plan of turning at least part of it into the Governor’s Leadership Institute for School Improvement.
The campus includes historic buildings, along with many built in the 1950s and 1960s. Barnes planned to spend about $12 million to fix up the campus to get it ready for the leadership institute.
However, a few months after the state bought the property, Perdue beat Barnes, and priorities changed.
Perdue, a Houston County native, is a strong proponent of economic development in his home Middle Georgia region. He had a feasibility study done to look at moving state agencies to the campus. Specifically, state officials looked at moving State Patrol headquarters to Forsyth. By mid-2003, the projected cost of rehabbing the campus had shot up to between $19 million and $29 million.
In early 2006, Perdue stood with Corrections Commissioner James Donald to announce that the prisons agency, not the State Patrol, would move to Forsyth.
“Moving the Department of Corrections headquarters to central Georgia is a wise business decision,” Perdue said at the time. “Not only will this relocation save taxpayers’ dollars, but the department will be better positioned to protect the people of Georgia because its headquarters will be closer to most of its facilities.”
Drawings of the plans on the department’s Web site include retail shops. In fact, the proposed development looks as if it was modeled on Atlantic Station in Atlanta.
The state would not be building stores, however, said Brian Owens, assistant commissioner of the Department of Corrections. Any such work would be done by developers on nearby land.
Owens said his agency regularly surveys Atlanta employees to see how many are willing to make the move to Forsyth. At last count, more than half of the 400 employees were expected to go.
Owens said the state would save money by moving to Monroe County. The change would free up about 80,000 square feet of space in the office towers across the street from the Capitol. That space then could be used by state agencies that now have to rent space in privately owned buildings at a higher cost. The move also would allow the department to consolidate work being done at several other offices in the Atlanta area.
In addition, Owens said, some of the rehab work on the Tift College campus is being performed by inmates from a nearby prison. The inmates also would do maintenance on the campus.
If lawmakers approve the $31 million Perdue has recommended for the project this year, Owens said, the Department of Corrections would not be back for more.
“Two years ago, they funded us,” he said. “Last year, they funded us, and, this, now, is the last piece of the puzzle.”
Powell has his doubts. He estimated that the project eventually could cost $100 million.
Rep. Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta), chairman of the House’s budget-writing subcommittee for public safety, said he has been asking questions about the department’s plan for a year.
“My concern with it is we are getting bits and pieces [of information] starting only two weeks ago,” Martin said.
The slow economy also might play into whether Martin’s subcommittee, and the General Assembly, approve the $31 million. Perdue last week slashed the revenue estimate --- and the state budget for next year --- by $245 million.
“If you are running a business and you think things are slowing down, you look for capital expenditures that aren’t critical to the enterprise,” Martin said. “I am not positive that this move is critical to the business enterprise this year.
“We can’t turn the clock back to 2002 and ask, ‘Was this a good purchase or not? Was it the right thing?’ ” he said. “But just because we own the property, I am not clear we should continue the funding and do a corporate move in this environment without having a business case for doing it.”
Martin said it might make more sense to consider using the money to improve the salaries of prison guards.
Powell said the state needs prison beds more than it needs new offices for Department of Corrections executives.
“The forecast is the state of Georgia is going to need 15,000 prison beds over the next six years,” Powell said. “What’s the mission of the Department of Corrections? It’s not economic development. Let them build a damn prison [in Forsyth] if they want economic development.”
Owens said the department has been adding bed space. “We’ve got at least 2,000 beds under some form of construction,” he said.
He noted that Perdue also has recommended funding for more beds in private prisons.
“Do we need beds? Yes,” Owens said. “Are they in the pipeline for some sort of funding? Yes. So we’ll be OK.”
Copytight 2008 The Atlanta Journal Constitution