County Council moves forward in budget process

By GINA VASSELLI
Item Staff Writer
gvasselli@theitem.com

The 2009-10 budget for Sumter County took another step forward in the process Tuesday night at the regular County Council meeting, even as council made and discussed the need for further changes.

After the public hearing, the budget received second reading, leaving only the third and final reading for County Council to consider.

As it stands, the budget calls for an overall five mill decrease, but also a $34 a year garbage fee and a $1 increase in business tipping fees. The budget also includes a $1.50 technology fee to be added onto each tax bill and sharing the cost of billing and collecting taxes with Mayesville, Pinewood and the city of Sumter.

Local business people spoke at the public hearing to ask council to consider their situation as the budget process moves along.

For example, Bob Sharp, of Comfort Suites and Sleep Inn on Broad Street, said his hotel property taxes have increased 56 percent during the past seven years, even as the value of his property has dropped.

Based on the information presented by those businesses, and other factors, council decided it would need to hold another budget workshop before final reading of the budget to discuss any possible changes that could be made.

COUNTY RETURNS FUNDING TO THREE MORE AGENCIES
In a budget workshop before the regular meeting, council voted to give back funding that had been taken out of the budget for three agencies but not restored in the last meeting. They returned $2,430 to the American Red Cross, $2,025 to the National Guard and $2,289 to the vocational rehabilitation program.

The discussion of the return of the funds was initiated by Councilman Charles Edens who said he had been called by members of the Red Cross and was better informed about what the organization does for the community.

Vice Chairman Eugene Baten then suggested that council return funding to the three organizations that the council did not restore it to at the previous meeting.

Councilmen Jimmy Byrd was the lone “nay” vote to give the agencies the money back.

“We need to concentrate on our services and do those the best we can and then if there’s money left over then we’ll look at it,” Byrd said.

SUMMER PROGRAM, LIBRARY NUMBERS TO BE STUDIED
In the budget workshop the council also discussed the need to get details on attendance and usage for the public library and the County Recreation and Parks Department summer program.

Chairwoman Vivian Fleming McGhaney said she had seen a decrease in attendance levels for the summer program, as a result of the new $5 a week per child fee.

County Administrator Bill Noonan said the county had already projected getting less than they budgeted for the fee to raise, but even those numbers were all based on the participation level of families.

Noonan agreed that the issue would be studied to see if the attendance levels were down, and if they were, where the county could get the money for that program.

A similar discussion took place about the library, with council members wanting to know how many people use the library on, for example, Sundays and during what time of the days it is used, to see if library needs to be open seven days a week.



Contact Staff Writer Gina Vasselli at gvasselli@theitem.com or (803) 774-1214.