By Angie Thompson, Senior Reporter
TIFTON — If all goes as planned, Plant Telecommunications will purchase CityNet from the City of Tifton for $3 million cash and provide the city with Internet services for 10 years. The city will still owe approximately $7 million in bonds that funded the project over the years, but contends that paying the money back won’t require a tax increase.
Tuesday during a press conference held in City Council chambers at City Hall, Tifton Mayor Jamie Cater said city council members were “lockstepped” on the decision to sell the cable television, video, high-speed Internet and VOIP service that the city started in the mid-’90s.
Vice Mayor Joe Lewis and councilmen Roosevelt Russell and Dave Hetzel served on the Tifton City Council at the inception of CityNet. Lewis said that the city realized that the community was facing a “digital divide” and that at the time, private Internet and cable providers weren’t interested in doing business here.
He said that the city held community hearings and asked people to express their opinions about city government starting the business. Lewis said that one of the accomplishments of CityNet is that it has provided schools, government and the medical field here with “front-end technology.”
“Our quality of life and economic development is in good hands as far as our infrastructure,” Lewis said. “We have a local family business that is prepared to enter that world and take over those needs. We can continue to meet our goals and keep the money at home. I think this is the right decision.”
Tift County Commission Chairman Grady Thompson, who spoke in his capacity as the chairman of the Development Authority of Tift County, said Tuesday that CityNet was financed through bonds issued by the Development Authority. He said he agreed that the decision to sell the business was a good one.
“I think private enterprise sometimes does a better job than cities or counties,” Thompson said. “We are looking forward to big things from Plant.”
Plant Telecommunication’s president and general manager Danny E. Sterling, who did not attend the press conference, issued a statement.
“Plant Telecommunications is pleased to join with the City of Tifton and the Tift County Development Authority in the transfer of this local telecommunications asset. We have examined the equipment and the operation thoroughly and we are impressed with the quality of the system and the ability of the CityNet employees. We look forward to welcoming them to our organization.
“With top quality customer service as one of our hallmarks, Plant is a family-owned business with deep roots in Tift County stretching back over 100 years. This purchase is part of our growth plan as we serve our many valued customers throughout all of South Georgia. We have every confidence that this transition will be seamless for all CityNet customers,” Sterling wrote.
The agreement also states that current CityNet employees will be hired by Plant.
Joe Courson, who served on the CityNet advisory council, said that he was in Atlanta in the ‘90s and talking with a television producer who told him “you can’t see the Web down there.” Courson said he told the man, “Yes, I can” and that Tifton had high-speed Internet because of CityNet. He said that members of the advisory committee believed the contract to sell to Plant was a good one and that a plus of the sale was that customers would be able to call a local telephone number and talk with a local person. He said the free services Plant will offer to the city for 10 years are valued at $5 million and that there would be no continued operating loss for the city.
“I am told and I believe that the cost savings will more than pay the debt,” Courson said. “Yes, there’s debt, but they have figured out a way without our taxes going up. It’s a miracle.”
Brad Day, president and CEO of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce, said “this deal makes sense.” He said the sale will benefit consumers with more jobs and investments in the community with the infrastructure the city has provided for “the information superhighway.” He also said that the city will realize more in public revenues because the “Headend Building” and property at 114 Kent Road will go back on the tax rolls after the sale is complete.
The city’s “Cost Savings/Avoidance in Fiscal Year 2010” fact sheet lists $314,000 in CityNet operating cost; a $270,000 annual payment on the bond; a one-time necessary equipment purchase that would have been made at a cost of $1 million; the annual increase in CityNet operating cost, estimated at $397,139; and management info (listed as software, equipment and rent) at a cost of $146,075.
City Manager Mike Vollmer said that the city has borrowed approximately $2.5 million from other internal funds to pay for CityNet over the years. He also said that the city anticipates reaping approximately $75,000 annually in franchise fees from Plant Telecommunications.
To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.
