Council holds T’ville meeting, light agenda

March’s Clarendon County Council meeting was mostly an exercise in second readings and housekeeping matters. The March 8 meeting was held in Turbeville, as is tradition. The Council holds its October meeting in Summerton.

Second reading was held on a budget amendment ordinance.

“We are in a unique position as a South Carolina county,” stated County Administrator Bill Houser. “While most counties are having to cut back and are worried about making their budget, our conservative planning is showing us that we will collect more taxes than we budgeted for.”

Houser said that they expect to receive $300,000 to $500,000 more in revenue than was anticipated when the budget was set last June.

“We want to reinstate several of the projects that we struck from the 2009-2010 budget,” Houser said.

Among those are some critically needed repairs at the County Archives.
“Because this building is on the National Register of Historic Places, all work must be done within their guidelines,” Houser said. The roof needs to be repaired as does damage done by the present leaky roof. Houser said he estimated that bill to be about $120,000.

Houser has also asked Council to approve the purchase of five, fuel-efficient vehicles to replace the current Crown Victorias that are being used for courthouse staff, the assessor’s office and the Planning Commission.

Houser said he would try to purchase the vehicles locally if “they can meet the state procurement price. Houser estimates the five vehicles to cost about $80,000.

Other items include the purchase of procurement software, an internal server for the county’s Internet domain, an upgrade to the county’s firewall and the hiring of a part time Weldon events coordinator.

In all, Houser estimated spending about $290,000 with the increased costs of repairs at the Archives. Those costs were originally projected to be about $60,000.

District 2 Councilman A.C. English asked Houser how the budget could have been so far off.

“In the spirit of being conservative, we made decisions about revenue before the legislature made changes in how properties are assessed,” Houser said. “It is a very hot topic in Columbia right now.”

When the vote was taken on the second reading, District 3 Councilman Benton Blakely abstained from the vote.

The Council also heard second reading on an ordinance that will authorize the purchase of bonds to refinance some bonds purchased in 2000.

The earlier bonds were purchased at a variable interest rate between 4.25 and 6.5 percent. The refinancing bonds will be purchased at a fixed 2.8 percent rate.

County Treasurer Matt Evans presented the first reading of a measure to allow for the installment payment of real estate taxes.

Evans presented three different scenarios: allowing estimated quarterly payments before tax bills come out; allowing estimated monthly payments before tax bills come out or allowing four payments after the bills are issued, but before the first penalty.

“The Legislature is looking for ways to lessen the burden on taxpayers and fit better within their budgets.” Evans said.

Evans explained that monies paid in advanced of tax bills would be held in an escrow account and not mixed into the general fund.

“Payments in advance would be based on the last year’s tax bill and the fourth (if quarterly) or twelfth (if monthly) payment would be to catch up to the current tax bills,” Evans said. “We are here to serve the public and must be flexible in order to meet their needs.”

Evans said he thought the measure would help taxpayers at all economic levels and would hopefully cut down on the number of tax notices turned into the delinquent tax office.

“It’s like church,” he said. “If it helps one person it would be worth it.”
The measure passed at first reading unanimously.

The Clarendon County Council meets at 6 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the F.E. DuBose Career Center Auditorium.