ACC Commission Approves Budget, Judicial Center, Housing Management Initiatives

The Athens-Clarke County Commission gave final approval to the FY2027 budget with property tax rates held flat and a 4 percent raise included for county employees.

Those actions, along with selections for a new judicial center and an affordable housing manager, move several long-discussed items into the execution phase. County staff will now prepare detailed spending plans and contract processes that follow directly from the commission votes.

Judicial Center and Housing Assignments Advance

Commissioners chose 120 W. Dougherty Street as the site for the new judicial center. The decision ends years of site reviews and clears the way for design work and permitting steps that typically follow location selection. At the same meeting the commission voted 5-4 to assign Envision Athens responsibility for the county affordable housing trust fund, giving that organization authority over fund allocation and project selection.

Both moves require follow-up actions by county departments. Staff must now develop construction schedules for the Dougherty Street facility and establish reporting requirements for the housing trust fund under the new manager.

Traffic Project and Data Center Rules Set Next Milestones

The commission also approved a plan to reimagine North Avenue with a $25 million federal RAISE grant aimed at traffic safety improvements. Project teams will begin preliminary engineering and public outreach phases funded by the grant. Separately, the commission extended the ban on new data centers until June 5, 2026, then adopted an ordinance classifying them as heavy industrial uses that require separate voter approval for each project.

These steps create clear procedural gates. The North Avenue work will move through design review and grant compliance checks, while any future data center proposal must clear both zoning and a public vote before advancing.

County administrators will now prepare implementation calendars, budget line-item adjustments and public notice schedules tied to the approved measures. Residents can track progress through regular commission updates on the judicial center design, housing fund disbursements, North Avenue engineering and any data center applications that reach the ballot stage.