Preservation posts: the online journal of the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Aug. 2012

In this issue:
- Message from the Director - Albany, Madison, and Valdosta Represented at 2012 Forum in Norfolk, Virginia - The Importance of State Historic Preservation Tax Incentives - Staff Profile: Debbie Wallsmith
Message from the Director
By Dr. David Crass, Division Director & Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer
While state agencies face ongoing budget challenges, HPD's employees continue to forge ahead, making good things happen with our partners around the state. What follows is just a sample of our staff's recent achievements.
The PBS show Time Team America will be filming at Magnolia Springs State Park (site of the Confederate Prisoner of War Camp Lawton) next month. For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, the Time Team brings high-tech resources and expertise to the archaeological discovery process, assisting projects around the country. At Magnolia Springs they will work with Georgia Southern University and HPD archaeologists, attempting to locate the main gate of the POW stockade at Camp Lawton. This will bring great visibility not just to Magnolia Springs State Park, but also to our partnership with Georgia Southern and the discipline of archaeology more generally. Look for more on this project from our State Archaeologist Dr. Bryan Tucker and his staff later this fall.
I am very proud that HPD was one of just three state historic preservation offices chosen by the National Park Service to pilot Section 106 training for Certified Local Governments (CLGs), Historic Preservation Commissions, and non-profit preservation partners to allow them to play a greater role in federal projects affecting them. This is a great example of Leigh Burns' leadership as our CLG Coordinator and Preservation Planner.
I was asked to give a few words of welcome at last week's Georgia Downtown Conference, held in LaGrange from August 22d through the 24th. Senator Johnny Isakson gave his perspective on what he thought would transpire over the next 6 months or so with reference to the federal budget. Leigh Burns (again!) provided training for CLGs. HPD has a strong relationship with the Georgia Downtown Association, the Department of Community Affairs, and other partners in sponsoring this conference, and the Downtown LaGrange Development Authority did a wonderful job hosting us in what has to be one of the best case studies in the state of successful economic revitalization with a strong historic preservation component.
Finally, HPD has been asked to co-sponsor a conference with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency at the Georgia World Congress Center from October 16-18 on sustainability and historic preservation. Roy Edwards, our Sustainability Coordinator, has played a key role in developing the agenda for this conference which is a first for Georgia. Plan to attend and find out more about this growing edge of our field!
Albany, Madison, and Valdosta Represented at 2012 Forum in Norfolk, Virginia
By Leigh Burns, Preservation Planner & CLG Coordinator, and Emily Foster, City of Valdosta Historic Preservation & Special Projects Planner
Rozanne Braswell, Leigh Burns and Emily Foster enjoy the FORUM Opening Reception Photo Courtesy of Rozanne Braswell
The National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC) held their bi-annual Forum Conference in Norfolk, Virginia, from July 18 through July 22, 2012. Partial scholarships were awarded to Emily Foster, City of Valdosta Historic Preservation & Special Projects Planner; J. Stratton Hickey, Madison Historic Preservation Commission member; and Ms. Rozanne Braswell, Planner for the City of Albany. HPD's Leigh Burns also attended NAPC Forum with the support of scholarship funds through the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) and the National Park Service. In addition to the Georgia delegation, over 400 historic preservation commission members, staff, design professionals, and elected officials from nearly every state attended the conference and associated events in Norfolk.
The NAPC Forum is the only national conference that focuses on the needs and issues of preservation commissions, their staff, and the property owners and communities in which they work and live. The NAPC Forum consisted of traditional educational sessions, networking events, roundtables, and tours that highlighted historic resources, design review issues, hands-on preservation work, and a variety of case studies. Additional topics included recent past preservation, rightsizing design, and green strategies. These topics were highlighted with interesting sessions and fresh perspectives. A full list of sessions is available on the conference website.
We hope that the benefits of attending FORUM were countless to our scholarship attendees. Emily Foster shared that the "ideas from around the nation, the many lessons learned at this conference will be possible to implement in our own community." It was announced near the conclusion of Forum activities that Philadelphia will host the next conference in 2014. HPD hopes to offer scholarship funds again through our Historic Preservation Fund grants for more HPC members and staff to travel to Philadelphia. Again, congratulations and thanks to our scholarship attendees!
The Importance of State Historic Preservation Tax Incentives
By William Hover, Tax Incentives & Rehabilitation Guidance Program Manager & Architectural Reviewer
The 1885 Judge Henry William and Francesca Hopkins House in Thomasville, as seen during construction (top) and after a successful rehabilitation that utilized historic preservation tax
incentives (bottom).
Historic preservation tax incentives are an important means to encourage private investment in historic properties in need of attention for continued or new, adaptive uses. Also, they are primarily targeted at properties located in areas that are in or have suffered decline and disinvestment, although use in these areas is not exclusive.
But why should we bother with incentives? Well, while historic buildings and neighborhoods just being architecturally and visually varied and otherwise interesting should be enough reason for some special attention, there are actually other good reasons, too. Among them are that no matter their existing condition, these areas are fundamentally important to communities for their historical, social, and financial contributions. In simple terms, historically, they represent the geographical and physical development of the community. Socially, they represent citizen activity and use of business sector and government services. And, financially, they represent existing public investment in infrastructure, public safety expense, and tax revenue.
To put historic preservation tax incentives into additional context, consider the following: When areas are in decline, social activity can tend towards the negative, business activity generally decreases, use of government services likely increases, infrastructure is underutilized, public safety needs usually increase, and tax revenue declines. Overall, neglected properties and disinvested neighborhoods, commercial areas, and industrial sites result in costs to the entire community through higher tax rates and lowered feeling of well-being. So, in a sense, having tax incentives available is an exercise in self-interest to make the larger community a better, more livable place through public investment. Also, from the perspective of a balance sheet, tax incentives are proactive investments with an expected return within a known time period, compared to the a seemingly perpetual expense represented by higher tax rates necessary to provide at least minimally acceptable maintenance and safety standards in declined/disinvested areas. Which would appear to be more preferable?
Georgia is fortunate to provide two tax incentives for preserving historic properties. These programs are administered by HPD and consist of a preferential property tax assessment program and a state income tax credit program. These incentives are available for historic properties that are listed in the Georgia/National Register of Historic Places and undergo a substantial rehabilitation that is consistent with the Standards for Rehabilitation. The preferential property tax assessment program allows for a property tax assessment "freeze" for 9 years, while the tax credit program provides for a state income tax credit amounting to 25% of qualified rehabilitation expenditures, which is capped at $100,000 for historic homes and $300,000 for income-producing properties. These programs can be used in conjunction, and for income-producing properties, also with the Federal Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit program.
But what are the actual benefits of these programs? The benefits of the preservation tax incentive programs fall into two broad categories: (1) financial benefits to the property owner and (2) economic benefit to the community. A property owner rehabilitating a historic house worth $200,000 at the beginning of the project and $300,000 at completion would realize about $17,000 in property tax savings (presuming 40% of the assessment as taxable and 0.05 millage rate) over the course of the tax assessment freeze period and be eligible for $25,000 in income tax credits (presuming the $100,000 increase in property value represents qualified rehabilitation expenditures).
The community benefits through the economic activity generated by the rehabilitation project and future increased property tax revenues. Analyzing data for Georgia, the 2010 report Good News in Tough Times: Historic Preservation and the Georgia Economy, commissioned by HPD, calculated that for every $1,000,000 spent on rehabilitation of historic buildings, 18.1 jobs were created and $750,000 in salary and wages generated. This job creation and income also cycles through the economy such that for every 10 jobs directly associated with a rehabilitation project, 5.9 jobs are created elsewhere.
So what does this mean in real numbers? The legislation that established the Georgia State Income Tax Credit for Rehabilitated Historic Property program that went into effect January 1, 2004 includes a reporting requirement about associated economic activity and usage. These reports are posted on HPD's website and provide a summary of program activity for individual State Fiscal Years (SFY).
For SFY2012, key information includes: 36 projects completed representing approximately $37.3 million in investment and $3.9 million in potential tax credits. 58 projects proposed or in-progress representing approximately $63.5 million in investment and $4.7 million in future potential tax credits.
Applying the Good News in Tough Times multipliers, the consequential economic benefits resulting from SFY2012 program activity would be: 675 jobs created due to completed rehabilitation projects o $28 million in salary and wages generated o 398 additional jobs created elsewhere 1149 jobs being created due to rehabilitation projects starting or in-progress o $48 million in salary and wages being generated o 678 additional jobs being created elsewhere
From an investment perspective: The $3.9 million in tax credits for completed projects leveraged $37.3 million in private investment, which is better than a 1:9 ratio The $4.7 million in future potential tax credits for in-progress projects is leveraging $63.5 million in private investment, which is better than a 1:13 ratio
These numbers arguably demonstrate that the state tax incentives for rehabilitating historic properties are useful and cost effective tools in efforts to stabilize and revitalize blighted or declining neighborhoods/business districts, and have a direct impact in developing safer and more livable communities.
For more information about the tax incentive programs and to see program annual reports, please visit HPD's website.
Staff Profile
Debbie Wallsmith, Preservation Specialist
Debbie at Walden Pond with Henry David Thoreau.
Debbie began working for DNR's Parks & Historic Sites (PRHS) Division as Curator of Collections in 2000. She has spent the past ten years focusing on interpretation of the PRHS cultural resources and has participated in the development of museums at the Little White House, Fort McAllister, Sweetwater Creek and Magnolia Springs state parks. She has also acted as liaison to production companies filming on PRHS properties. Debbie grew up in British Columbia, Canada, where she earned a BA and MA in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University. She then moved to Dallas, TX, where she received an MA and PhD in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University. She is interested in stone tool technology and has worked in Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt.
How did you become involved in archaeology? When I was 6 years old, I saw a National Geographic special about Louis and Mary Leakey finding Zinjanthropus in Olduvai Gorge. It was at that point I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist and work in Africa. Not once during my childhood, did I change my goal. When I got to college, I really enjoyed my archaeology courses and signed up for field school. The field school was held in northern British Columbia on the site of a Hudson Bay trading post, Fort d'Epinette. Living conditions were spartan tents and hand-dug latrines, but I adapted and, despite being the rainiest summer on record and having to combat bears and mosquitoes big enough to carry me off, I couldn't imagine doing anything else for a living.
I realized my dream of working in Africa the following year when I was invited to work with a graduate student in the department, who received funding for excavation of rock shelters with associated rock art in his home country of Tanzania. I spent 4 amazing months working in central Tanzania, learning Swahili and about the Later Stone Age. On my way home at the end of this project, I stopped off in Nairobi, Kenya, to attend an archaeology conference where I got to meet Mary Leakey and many other famous archaeologists and paleoanthropologists. I also met a group from the University of Calgary, who were on their way to Ghana to excavate a village site in the northern part of the country. One thing led to another and the following year I was headed off to excavate in Daboya, Ghana. My dream was coming true.
From there I went to Egypt, back to Ghana and Tanzania, then to South Africa where I excavated a rock shelter filled with Middle Stone Age tools for my doctoral dissertation. My last project in Africa was in Egypt where I headed a project providing technical assistance to the Egyptian Antiquities Service in the Sinai Desert. The project tested my multitasking abilities as I had my 3 month old son, Danny with me. Fortunately, Egyptians love babies so Danny opened the door to many social opportunities I wouldn't have had without him.
What do you like most about your job? I love the creative aspects of designing museum exhibits and interpretive panels as well as storytelling. I say storytelling because that's what exhibits do they tell stories about the past. I always try to incorporate personal stories into my exhibits because they have a greater impact on the visitor than dry and dusty facts and figures. I also love the fact that there is no such thing as a typical day. I can be installing artifacts in a museum one day and monitoring activities on a movie set the next.
What do you do when you're not at work? I love to travel and visit interesting places. I also love to cook although I don't have as much time to devote to it as I would like. Having a teenage son who is active at school means my schedule is pretty hectic. When I do have down time I like to read and watch old movies. When I retire I plan to write a best-selling trash novel and use the proceeds to travel around the world.
Please send your comments or suggestions to charlie.miller@dnr.state.ga.us.
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