Randolph County Commission vice chairman starts 'treasure hunt'

The Albany Herald, Ga.
·2 min read

Oct. 3—CUTHBERT — Randolph County Commission Vice Chairman Jimmie Allen, with the concurrence of other officials, announced the start of a detailed, four-part "treasure hunt" to find non-tax funds to support local government and some individual taxpayers.

The first component of Allen's search for additional, non-tax funds is to search for ways to secure interest on county bank accounts.

"I was shocked to learn the other day that Randolph County has 20 different bank accounts that do not get a dime in interest," Allen said. "These accounts have balances that range from $1.2 million to $800,000. By contrast, the city of Cuthbert routinely puts some of its idle money in certificates of deposit.

"This is particularly worrisome now that interest rates are climbing — we must seize this opportunity to secure as much non-tax income for government units in our county as we can."

Further, he said that he will work with other county commissioners to assign the newly appointed county manager the task of making new banking arrangements that will produce interest in as many of the county's bank accounts as possible. Other idle funds could buy certificates of deposit, which can produce as much as 3% interest for even short periods of time. Deborah Jones, the new county manager, was set to take office on Monday.

Allen said that he would ask three other local government units to take similar actions: the county school board, the Cuthbert Housing Authority, and the now inactive Randolph County Hospital Authority. Each has money on deposit, but the exact totals could not be determined immediately.

Allen's "Great Randolph County Treasure Hunt" will continue with three more components that will be explained in follow-up announcements. These three additional components will focus on additional sources of non-tax funds from:

—Comprehensive filings for Randolph County claims for thousands in missing funds owed to various local governmental entities by the State Treasury;

—A publicity campaign to tell individual Randolph County citizens of their missing funds, held by the State Treasury in Atlanta;

—An organized campaign to bring more federal funds to the county, by writing grant applications for specific federal programs.