Powers of Authorities Generally

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Local Government
  4. Downtown Development Authorities
  5. Powers of Authorities Generally

Checkout our iOS App for a better way to browser and research.

  1. Each authority shall have all of the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the power:
    1. To bring and defend actions;
    2. To adopt and amend a corporate seal;
    3. To make and execute contracts, agreements, and other instruments necessary or convenient to exercise the powers of the authority or to further the public purpose for which the authority is created, including, but not limited to, contracts for construction of projects, leases of projects, contracts for sale of projects, agreements for loans to finance projects, contracts with respect to the use of projects, and agreements to join or cooperate with an urban residential finance authority, created by the municipal corporation within which the downtown development area is located pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 41 of this title, in the exercise, either jointly or otherwise, of any or all of its powers for the purpose of financing, including the issuance of revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations of the authorities, planning, undertaking, owning, constructing, operating, or contracting with respect to any projects located within the downtown development area or, for projects under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (6) of Code Section 36-42-3, within the territorial boundaries of the municipal corporation;
    4. To acquire by purchase, lease, or otherwise and to hold, lease, and dispose of real and personal property of every kind and character, or any interest therein, in furtherance of the public purpose of the authority;
    5. To finance (by loan, grant, lease, or otherwise), refinance, construct, erect, assemble, purchase, acquire, own, repair, remodel, renovate, rehabilitate, modify, maintain, extend, improve, install, sell, equip, expand, add to, operate, or manage projects and to pay the cost of any project from the proceeds of revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations of the authority or any other funds of the authority, or from any contributions or loans by persons, corporations, partnerships (whether limited or general), or other entities, all of which the authority is authorized to receive, accept, and use;
    6. To borrow money to further or carry out its public purpose and to execute revenue bonds, notes, other obligations, leases, trust indentures, trust agreements, agreements for the sale of its revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations, loan agreements, mortgages, deeds to secure debt, trust deeds, security agreements, assignments, and such other agreements or instruments as may be necessary or desirable, in the judgment of the authority, to evidence and to provide security for such borrowing;
    7. To issue revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations of the authority and use the proceeds thereof for the purpose of paying, or loaning the proceeds thereof to pay, all or any part of the cost of any project and otherwise to further or carry out the public purpose of the authority and to pay all costs of the authority incidental to, or necessary and appropriate to, furthering or carrying out such purpose;
    8. To make application directly or indirectly to any federal, state, county, or municipal government or agency or to any other source, whether public or private, for loans, grants, guarantees, or other financial assistance in furtherance of the authority's public purpose and to accept and use the same upon such terms and conditions as are prescribed by such federal, state, county, or municipal government or agency or other source;
    9. To enter into agreements with the federal government or any agency thereof to use the facilities or services of the federal government or any agency thereof in order to further or carry out the public purposes of the authority;
    10. To contract for any period, not exceeding 50 years, with the State of Georgia, state institutions, or any municipal corporation or county of this state for the use by the authority of any facilities or services of the state or any such state institution, municipal corporation, or county, or for the use by any state institution or any municipal corporation or county of any facilities or services of the authority, provided that such contracts shall deal with such activities and transactions as the authority and any such political subdivision with which the authority contracts are authorized by law to undertake;
    11. To extend credit or make loans to any person, corporation, partnership (whether limited or general), or other entity for the costs of any project or any part of the costs of any project, which credit or loans may be evidenced or secured by loan agreements, notes, mortgages, deeds to secure debt, trust deeds, security agreements, assignments, or such other instruments, or by rentals, revenues, fees, or charges, upon such terms and conditions as the authority shall determine to be reasonable in connection with such extension of credit or loans, including provision for the establishment and maintenance of reserve funds; and, in the exercise of powers granted by this chapter in connection with any project, the authority shall have the right and power to require the inclusion in any such loan agreement, note, mortgage, deed to secure debt, trust deed, security agreement, assignment, or other instrument of such provisions or requirements for guaranty of any obligations, insurance, construction, use, operation, maintenance, and financing of a project, and such other terms and conditions, as the authority may deem necessary or desirable;
    12. As security for repayment of any revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations of the authority, to pledge, mortgage, convey, assign, hypothecate, or otherwise encumber any property of the authority (including, but not limited to, real property, fixtures, personal property, and revenues or other funds) and to execute any lease, trust indenture, trust agreement, agreement for the sale of the authority's revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations, loan agreement, mortgage, deed to secure debt, trust deed, security agreement, assignment, or other agreement or instrument as may be necessary or desirable, in the judgment of the authority, to secure any such revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations, which instruments or agreements may provide for foreclosure or forced sale of any property of the authority upon default in any obligation of the authority, either in payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest or in the performance of any term or condition contained in any such agreement or instrument. The State of Georgia, on behalf of itself and each county, municipal corporation, political subdivision, or taxing district therein, waives any right it or such county, municipal corporation, political subdivision, or taxing district may have to prevent the forced sale or foreclosure of any property of the authority upon such default and agrees that any agreement or instrument encumbering such property may be foreclosed in accordance with law and the terms thereof;
    13. To receive and use the proceeds of any tax levied by a municipal corporation to pay the costs of any project or for any other purpose for which the authority may use its own funds pursuant to this chapter;
    14. To receive and administer gifts, grants, and devises of money and property of any kind and to administer trusts;
    15. To use any real property, personal property, or fixtures or any interest therein or to rent or lease such property to or from others or make contracts with respect to the use thereof, or to sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge, or otherwise dispose of or grant options for any such property in any manner as it deems to the best advantage of the authority and the public purpose thereof;
    16. To acquire, accept, or retain equitable interests, security interests, or other interests in any real property, personal property, or fixtures by loan agreement, note, mortgage, deed to secure debt, trust deed, security agreement, assignment, pledge, conveyance, contract, lien, loan agreement, or other consensual transfer in order to secure the repayment of any moneys loaned or credit extended by the authority;
    17. To appoint, select, and employ engineers, surveyors, architects, urban or city planners, fiscal agents, attorneys, and others and to fix their compensation and pay their expenses;
    18. To encourage and promote the improvement and revitalization of the downtown development area and to make, contract for, or otherwise cause to be made long-range plans or proposals for the downtown development area in cooperation with the municipal corporation within which the downtown development area is located;
    19. To adopt bylaws governing the conduct of business by the authority, the election and duties of officers of the authority, and other matters which the authority determines to deal with in its bylaws;
    20. To exercise any power granted by the laws of this state to public or private corporations which is not in conflict with the public purpose of the authority;
    21. To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers conferred by this chapter;
    22. To serve as an urban redevelopment agency pursuant to Chapter 61 of this title;
    23. To contract with a municipal corporation to carry out supplemental services in a city business improvement district established pursuant to Chapter 43 of this title; and
    24. To serve as a redevelopment agency pursuant to Chapter 44 of this title.
  2. The powers enumerated in each paragraph of subsection (a) of this Code section are cumulative of and in addition to those powers enumerated in the other paragraphs of subsection (a) of this Code section and elsewhere in this chapter; and no such power limits or restricts any other power of the authority except that, notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no authority described in this chapter shall be granted the power of eminent domain.

(Ga. L. 1981, p. 1744, § 6; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 36; Ga. L. 1988, p. 902, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 1463, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2533, § 3; Ga. L. 2006, p. 39, § 19/HB 1313; Ga. L. 2013, p. 746, § 1/SB 242.)

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2006, p. 39, § 1/HB 1313, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as 'The Landowner's Bill of Rights and Private Property Protection Act.'"

Ga. L. 2006, p. 39, § 25/HB 1313, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section shall only apply to petitions for condemnation filed on or after April 4, 2006.

Law reviews.

- For article on 2006 amendment of this Code section, see 23 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 157 (2006).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Bond proposal secured by infrastructure fees upheld.

- Bond proposal secured by infrastructure fees was sound, feasible, and reasonable; the trial court was not required to find that the projected $633 million of fees over a 30 year period would service bonds in the possible amount of $1.25 billion; the bonds would be issued only if sufficient infrastructure fees were projected to service the bonds. Franzen v. Downtown Dev. Auth. of Atlanta, Ga. , 845 S.E.2d 539 (2020).


Download our app to see the most-to-date content.