A news conference Thursday will launch a campaign in support of tax allocation districts, a financing tool aimed at promoting economic development.

Patrick Crews, a banker and civic leader, will coordinate the campaign, which will include presentations to civic clubs and other organizations.

“He’ll talk about why he believes as a citizen that it’s a good idea,” said Troup County Manager Mike Dobbs.

Voters in LaGrange, Hogansville and the unincorporated area will decide July 20 whether to authorize the local governments to create the districts, although a local bill authorizing the referendum still awaits the governor’s signature.

Under the TAD concept, a developer’s property tax bill would stay the same until he pays off a bond issue, typically 20 or 30 years in duration, to finance the costs of infrastructure, transportation and pedestrian improvements, among other things. Once the bonds have been retired, the governing bodies would get the full tax benefit of the property.

The district is not a tax, and local governments have no obligation for debt service on the bonds. All the risk is on the bond investors.

Voters in LaGrange and Hogansville will have two questions on the ballot because they have to decide whether their city and county should participate. Voters in the unincorporated area will decide only whether the county should participate.

If the referendum passes, all the affected governing bodies would have to approve a particular development after public hearings. For example, a development in the unincorporated area would have to be approved by the County Commission and the Board of Education. A development in LaGrange or Hogansville also would require that city council’s approval.

West Point approved tax allocation districts in a referendum last year with the intention of redeveloping a blighted area between Interstate 85 and downtown.

Perhaps the most successful TAD project in Georgia has been Atlantic Station, an Atlanta mixed-use development whose assessed value has grown from $7 million in 2001 to more than $230 million.

More retail development in Troup County would increase sales tax revenue as well since a lot of shoppers are going to Auburn, Newnan and Columbus to find what they want.

“It’s known as sales tax leakage and we’re just leaking all over the place,” Dobbs said.