Thriving communities need strong, vibrant chambers of commerce. Thriving chambers of commerce need strong, vibrant communities.

While our community is weathering the COVID-19 pandemic as best it can, it has had a devastating impact on the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce.

Now, there is a proposal to bring the Thomasville Payroll Development Authority and the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce together as one force for business and growth in the community.

In many communities, there is a partnership between the local development authority and the chamber of commerce. On occasion, those two entities can be found under the same roof, just as is the case in Thomasville.

In some instances, the development authority pays the local chamber to provide essential services through a contract. Other times, the two have merged into one. Sometimes, it has worked. Sometimes, it has not.

The local chamber is in dire straits, its staff says. They have eliminated one position and they have furloughed themselves to ease a financial vise. 

To its great credit, the chamber began 2020 debt-free. But that also meant it had no reserves, just in case things began to turn sour.

Enter the COVID-19 pandemic.

The community is fortunate there is a great deal of cooperation and synchronization between the Thomasville Payroll Development Authority and the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce. 

Our Chamber of Commerce has taken on new programs to help young people find a career path and remain home, with Project Purpose and iLead. It also has spotlighted challenges and successes with its Economic Impact Forums. It helped fill in the gaps recognized in the City of Thomasville’s recently-adopted comprehensive plan. 

The proposal does not dissolve the current chamber but helps it evolves, community members were told earlier this week. Central to that proposal is the city levying a one-mill property tax. Currently, the City of Thomasville does not levy a property tax for city operations. Many development authorities receive millage proceeds, often constitutionally enacted at 2 mills per year, in their communities to help fund their efforts. Thomasville’s utilities proceeds provide the bulk of the PDA’s funding. 

“Ultimately, the mill of tax seems to be the only way to make it happen, and if that is something our community doesn’t agree with,” chamber executive director Andrea Collins told a meeting Monday morning, “then I don’t think the chamber has a choice but to dissolve.”

“These ladies are fighting for their lives,” said Shelley Zorn, the PDA executive director.

The PDA and the chamber have been working diligently to come up with a way forward for the chamber to remain viable and a vital part of the community. We applaud their efforts. 

The proposed partnership merits further discussion and examination, even though time may be of the essence. A one-mill tax levy will take political will, and at the moment, there does not seem to support for such a measure. 

Yet we hope there is support throughout the community to keep the chamber going forward.