MACON, Ga. — Tuesday, Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller asked the commission to extend the moratorium on new pawn shops in Macon.
In January, Macon-Bibb County commissioners voted unanimously to approve moratoriums on pawn shops as well as liquor stores
The original pawn shop ban lasted six months but expired Saturday.
If this new extension passes, it will last another nine months.
"To me, it's a slap in the face for all pawn shop owners," said Ron Richardson, owner of Shurlington Jewelry and Pawn on Shurling Drive.
"I think it just paints pawn shops in a negative light," said Tony Woods, one of the owners at Old South Pawn Shop on Pio Nono Avenue off Rocky Creek Road.
In Tuesday's committee meeting, Mayor Lester Miller said that this extension would give the administration more time to study if and how pawn shops affect Macon's neighborhoods.
"We want to make sure they're not concentrated in certain areas where they will have an adverse effect," Miller said.
According to the proposed resolution, Miller claims some pawn shops are leading to "violence, poverty, blight, and decreased property values" in some neighborhoods.
"How do we just single out the pawn stores? What has been the benefit of the moratorium for the last six months?" Commissioner Al Tillman asked the mayor and commission.
Pawn shop owners Ron Richardson and Tony Wood are asking the same questions.
"Crime is not caused by pawn shops and liquor stores," Richardson said.
"I don't know how we would contribute to blight and low property values. I don't even know how we would contribute to violence," Wood said.
Richardson and Wood both say stolen items can make it into pawn shops but that it happens rarely.
"In 2020, a pandemic year. We did 11,075 loans. Of those, 11,075 loans, only 18 items were confiscated, which is extremely low," Wood said. In 2019, Wood claims Old South Pawn handled almost 14,000 loans with only 10 items coming back as stolen.
There's a system for law enforcement to notify a pawnbroker when a stolen item comes into their shops.
"A description of every item that comes into this pawn shop, in every pawn shop in Macon, and the serial number, is downloaded to the Sheriff's Department, every single night," Richardson said.
"It's all put into a database where serial numbers are matched. If there's a match, we get a phone call from the police department, next day, to put that item on hold," Wood said.
"We don't want stolen stuff. If we get it, it costs me money," Richardson said.
Miller says criminals pawning stolen items is just part of the problem. The county wants to look at the bigger picture. Miller says that he sees more pawn shops in areas of town struck by poverty than in wealthier areas.