In an oped in today’s Bryan County News, Richmond Hill Mayor Russ Carpenter said the fairest way to fund infrastructure is “to let growth pay for growth.”

And that, the city says, can happen through the establishment of Tax Allocation Districts, or TADs.

Those TADs, which will first require the Georgia legislature to sign off on allowing the measure to be put on the ballot, and then require voter approval, would allocate a portion of taxes in those districts for paying for infrastructure.

The city took a first step toward TADs at Tuesday night’s council meeting, by approving the spending of up to $5,000 for consultants with the Bleakly Advisory Group out of Atlanta.

The city apparently hopes to get the measure on the ballot by 2019, but Carpenter said the TADs are not a tax hike on current residents.

“And ultimately, voters will get decide,” Richmond Hill Councilwoman Tara Baraniak said.

In recent years, residents in both Richmond Hill and South Bryan have become more vocal in opposition to growth.

Bryan County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, according to a number of projections.