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On July 13, 2021, at 9:30am, a superior court judge will be ruling on whether to validate and confirm the Americus-Sumter Payroll Development Authority Taxable Revenue Bond in the principal amount of $750,000,000. The bond will be issued to pay the costs of acquiring equipment to be used by Americus Solar LLC.

In accordance with Georgia law, the bond must be validated to be considered legal. The process for doing such is for the district attorney to file a petition for validation in superior court. The petition is considered a civil matter and according to the PDA’s attorney, Jimmy Skipper, this process is “not anything unusual.”

According to Skipper, anytime an authority, in this case the PDA issues a bond, the validation is required. Only a judge can grant the petition, thus the reason the issue is handled in court. The purpose of validation is to be compliant with Georgia law in case another entity wishes to buy the bond. A legitimate buyer is only going to be interested in bonds which have been validated. Municipalities, to include cities and counties also go through the same process to validate bonds.

Although the petition, a civil matter, is entitled State of Georgia v. Americus-Sumter Payroll Development Authority and Americus Solar, LLC, this is not considered a case in which damages are awarded.  As Skipper states, “whoever issues the bond is considered the defendant.”

The Petition for Validation hearing is advertised for two weeks. Any citizen “who has a legal objection” to the petition is welcome to file the objection with the court at the hearing.