Putnam Sets Its All-Time Construction Record During Fiscal Year

Putnam County has set its all-time record for building construction during the last fiscal year.

Mayor Randy Porter said there were 382 permits totaling $61 million issued. Porter said that all of the county is seeing construction as builders look to create or add onto subdivisions.

“You would think with all the many things we’ve had going on, especially with the pandemic and tornado and ice storm and flood,” Porter said. “And all the many things we’ve had in the past 12-18 months that some of that stuff would have slowed down construction but it hasn’t.”

The totals do not include the four cities construction permits.

Porter said that June had 26 permits for $3.84 million, a small slow down compared to other months this year. However, Porter said that if building materials come down in price like some are seeing, that county growth could continue.

Porter said a part of that growth is having infrastructure for developers and construction

“The water supply has to be there, land has to be able to perc,” Porter said. “There has to be roads and good infrastructure for getting there. I think that’s all a big part of it. I think the other part of whether we continue to grow as much as we are and as fast as we are is do people continue to move here like they are now?”

Porter said a piece to bringing people into the county is the housing inventory. Porter said there are typically hundreds of houses, but at his last check there were roughly 78 homes available in Putnam County.

The old record that was broken is for 357 permits for $49.6 million. The new record for homes is 243, breaking the old record of 212.