The Gainesville City Council approved a $5 million revenue bond for one of Gainesville's growing companies. And it won't cost the city a dime.

IMS Gear Georgia will use the bond in the first phase of a three-year project that will create 78 new jobs and new production lines.

With the city's approval, IMS Gear Georgia's bond will be tax exempt and provide the company with lower interest rates, attorney Tread Syfan said. Syfan is serving as the legal counsel for the bond issuance.

The city itself will not be providing the bond, he added.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, the bond must pass through a government entity before it can be tax exempt.

General Electric Finance will issue the bond, and the Gainesville-Hall County Development Authority will act as the government entity, Syfan said.

The council voted unanimously in favor of the bond at
its meeting Tuesday. Council members also voted to provide $22,000 for repairs to the Georgia Mountains Center.

The bond was addressed quickly at Gainesville City Council meeting. After the meeting, City Attorney James Palmour said the bond, even with its price tag, won't put any burden on Gainesville's funds.

"All I'm concerned with is that it doesn't affect the taxpayers of Gainesville," Palmour said.

The city council's approval is part of the public hearing process — that is, the bond has to go before the city before it can be approved, Syfan said.

The city's approval is just the first in a series of hurdles that comes with issuing a tax-exempt bond, he added.

Today at 8 a.m. the bond will go before the Gainesville-Hall County Development Authority.

Once the authority approves the language in the bond, it will go to the Hall County Superior Court for validation.

Once all the red tape is slashed, Phase I of IMS Gear Georgia's development project will begin.

The new production line will create new jobs, said Tim Evans, vice president of economic development for the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.

"It's about jobs, and it's about job creation," he said.

"That's our primary focus right now."

As its name implies, IMS Gear manufactures small gears which eventually end up on car manufacturers' assembly lines. IMS Gear has been a staple of Gainesville for more than 15 years, Evans said.

"They're a great existing industry in this community since 1995," he said.

The company's products include such materials as the tiny parts in a car's electrical power steering system, Syfan said.

The benefit to the city of Gainesville is two-fold.

Besides providing new jobs, the company will be less likely to lay off current employees, Syfan said.

"It will make their plant more profitable, so the jobs they have there will be less likely to be lost," he said.

In January, the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce named IMS Gear as one of the county's top companies, and the top company of its size.

IMS Gear Georgia is the U.S. subsidiary of the German-based IMS Gear. The company has other subsidiaries in Virginia, Mexico and China.

In other city news, the council unanimously voted to provide $22,000 for repairs to the mezzanine at the Georgia Mountains Center.

Ordering the parts for the repairs will take four weeks, and the actual repairs should be completed in a week, Georgia Mountains Center Director Carol Moore said.

"I'm more than ready to get it going," Moore said. "We need it so badly."