GA Code § 50-23-6 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 50 - State Government|Chapter 23 - Environmental Finance Authority|Article 1 - Environmental Finance Authority|Part 1 - General Provisions|§ 50-23-6. Loans to Local Governments; Repayment

  Reserved.   The authority may make loans to a local government to pay all or any part of the cost of a project. The authority may require the local government to issue bonds or revenue bonds as evidence of such loans. The authority and a local government may enter into such loan commitments and option agreements as may be determined appropriate by the authority.   The authority may require as a condition of any loan to a local government that such local government shall perform any or all of the following:   As appropriate and permitted by law, establish and collect taxes, rents, rates, fees, and charges so as to produce revenues sufficient to pay all or a specified portion of:   Costs of operation, maintenance, replacement, renewal, and repairs; and   Outstanding indebtedness incurred for the purposes of such project, including the principal of and interest on the bonds, revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations issued by the local government, as the same shall become due and payable, and to create and maintain any required reserves;     Create and maintain a special fund or funds as additional security for the payment of the principal revenue bonds and the interest thereon and any other amounts becoming due under any agreement entered into in connection with such bonds and for the deposit of such revenues as shall be sufficient to make such payment as the same shall become due and payable;   Create and maintain such other special funds as may be required by the authority; and   Such other acts, including the conveyance of real and personal property together with all right, title, or interest therein to the authority, as may be deemed necessary or desirable by the authority to secure the payment of the principal of and interest on bonds, revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations and to provide for the remedies of the authority in the event of any default by such local government in such payment.     All local governments issuing and selling bonds, revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations to the authority are authorized to perform such acts, take such action, adopt such proceedings, and make and carry out such contracts with the authority as may be contemplated by this article.   In connection with the making of any loan authorized by this article, the authority may fix and collect such fees and charges, including but not limited to reimbursement of all costs of financing by the authority, as the authority shall determine to be reasonable. Neither the Public Service Commission nor any local government or state agency shall have jurisdiction over the authority's power over the regulation of such fees or charges.   A mutual undertaking by a local government to borrow and an undertaking by the authority to lend funds from and to each other for projects shall be a provision for services and an activity within the meaning of Article IX, Section III, Paragraph I(a) of the Constitution.     (Code 1981, §50-23-6, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 569, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 1289, § 4; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1108, § 6; Ga. L. 2006, p. 267, § 3/HB 1319; Ga. L. 2008, p. 90, § 3-3/HB 1176.)   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Community reservoirs.   - Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority may lend proceeds from general obligation bonds of the state to local governments, acting either jointly or separately, to establish community reservoirs. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-26.   Constitutionality of loans by Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.    - Loans by the Department of Natural Resources pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 12-5-38.1 and loans by the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-23-1 et seq. do not cause a city or county to incur debt in accordance with Ga. Const. 1983, Art. IX, Sec. V, Para. I. The constitutional underpinning of these programs is in the intergovernmental contract clause, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. IX, Sec. III, Para. I(a). Thus, the procedural requirements in O.C.G.A. § 48-8-111 for submitting a debt question are not triggered when proceeds derived from the sales tax are to be applied to repayment of the loans by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) or the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA). 1990 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U90-7.   Authority of Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority and City of Atlanta regarding loans.   - Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority is statutorily empowered to make the administrative and policy determinations requiring the City of Atlanta to pledge the city's full faith and credit as security for a loan from the Authority, there are no constitutional prohibitions upon the city pledging the city's full faith and credit for such a loan, and a referendum is not required prior to the city making the pledge. 2004 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2004-8.