The City of Kennesaw announced on its website that the city’s status as a Qualified Local Government (QLG) was renewed by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, following the adoption of its Annual Capital Improvement Element (CIE) Update.

A guidebook produced by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs describes the two components required in the CIE as follows:

Annual Financial Report

As part of its annual audit process, a municipality or county shall prepare an annual report describing the amount of any development impact fees collected, encumbered, and used during the preceding year by category of public facility and service area.

Schedule of Improvements

The purpose of the Schedule of Improvements is to identify all capital improvement projects to be financed in whole or in part by impact fees during the upcoming five years, beginning with the current year. This must include any changes to previously listed capital improvement projects (such as adjustment of project costs, changes in funding sources, construction schedules, or project scope) plus a new fifth year schedule of improvements for projects to be funded with impact fees.

The renewal of QLC status qualifies Kennesaw for financial resources to help them with the implementation of their comprehensive plan, including Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), water and sewer loans from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA), and economic development funding from the OneGeorgia Authority.

What is the Georgia Department of Community Affairs?

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs has the following description on its website:

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has been an advocate for our state’s communities since its creation in 1977. In 1996, the Governor and General Assembly merged the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority (GHFA) into DCA, and the job of providing safe and affordable housing became part of the agency’s mission. For four decades, DCA has helped communities spur private job creation, implement comprehensive plans, develop downtowns, generate affordable housing solutions and promote volunteerism.

By the numbers, DCA…
…is a state agency with 425 employees.
…runs 65 programs.
…has 12 regional representatives aligned with Georgia’s Regional Commissions.
…manages nearly $300 million in state and federal funding each year.

What benifits are there to Qualified Local Government status?

The fact sheet on the QLG program available at this link lists all the programs available to governments that qualify.