Category: Government

WINNSBORO – The second budget workshop for FY2014-15 opened Monday night with a rehashing of what went wrong with the budgeted amount approved by Council for last year’s Summer Youth Program. Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson asked how the 20 students and $16,148 that Council approved in the budget doubled.

County Administrator Milton Pope explained that an additional 20 students were hired for work at the hospital for an additional $16,000+. Robinson asked who overrode Council’s approval and Pope told her the administration signed off on the additional students and costs without Council’s approval. Council Chairman David Ferguson said he felt the work that was done by the students justified the expense. However, Pope assured Robinson that the program would be run this summer within the budgeted amount set by Council. Pope said the County is allotting $15,000 for students who will work for County departments and another $5,000 to the hospital for it to manage its own students.

Councilman Dwayne Perry said he expected the Council to live within the budget. If something is going to go over budget, he said, then he wants it to come back to Council.

The work session covered all revenue funds and County allocations, with Pope and his staff covering the budget line by line for more than four hours. Pope stressed there would be no increases in taxes in any area of the budget so long as no changes were made to the recommended budget in hand. The preliminary general fund ($25,665,917) and special revenue and other funds ($7,629,997) add up to a total budget of $33,295,894, down from last year’s total of $33,598,604.

Pope said he does not yet know how much the mill will be valued at for the coming fiscal year, and that some millage rates might change on the millage resolution list; however, he said the total millage rate for the County would not be more than last fiscal year and that he expected that it might be lower. He emphasized that such expectations were based on the recommended budget with no changes.

Pope said residents can view all the documents presented at the budget workshop on the County’s website under Financials. The charts show how much was adopted but not how much was spent in the FY2013-4 budget, and they show the recommended budget for FY2014-15.

WINNSBORO – At the first budget work session two weeks ago, Council discussed its discretionary spending fund. County Administrator Milton Pope told Council on Monday night that $2,500 per Council district was budgeted and he recommended Council move forward with that amount. He told Council that he and staff were crafting a new policy regarding the use of the discretionary funds by Council members. Councilman Kamau Marcharia expressed concern about how the changes would affect the fairness in how Council members would spend discretionary funds.

Council Chairman David Ferguson said, “What Mr. Pope is trying to do is be sure everything is done legitimately so that all seven Council members have to go by the same guidelines. I think this thing about helping kids go to school is paramount,” Ferguson said, “but the people want us all held to the same standards. But kids who can’t afford to go to school, that’s a big reason to spend this money.”

Pope said he would like, instead of using the word ‘discretionary,’ to call it something else.

“It seems to target needs the Council sees in the community, based on history, that is not already a source of funding in our budget,” Pope said. “Staff is trying to put a structure in place to make sure it’s a public process. Council will identify the criteria we want to target and indicate how you want to spend that money. Then that criteria will be publicly announced so that people in the districts will know when that money is available and how much (is available), so there is no question about the legitimacy about the areas Council chooses to target,” Pope said. “We want to have protections in place. We must have a policy in place, or we’ll have to stand the test of someone questioning us about how we’re spending these dollars.”

Pope said he would present the policy to Council in the near future.

BLYTHEWOOD – The Planning Commission took action Monday evening on a request by an Ashley Oaks resident, Frank Parks, to remove five healthy trees from his front yard. Parks told the Commission last month that the trees’ roots had begun to cause erosion in his yard, causing other landscaping problems. The Commission was clearly split on the matter at that time. After a visit to the site on April 23, Rick McMakin came to the meeting Monday evening with the suggestion to allow Parks to remove three of the trees, one of which was damaged, and leave the other two trees, which were large and healthy. Parks accepted that recommendation and the Commission voted in favor of it.

After passing first reading on the Town’s new Tree Preservation and Landscaping ordinance in March, Town Council requested that the Planning Commission provide some example scenarios of how the revised ordinance would be applied. On Monday night Michael Criss, the Town’s planner presented several such test examples to the Planning Commission and asked the Commissioners to think of others that might be applicable prior to the Commission’s next work session on May 13.

BLYTHEWOOD – As Town Council and the Mayor narrow the field in search of a new Town administrator, it turns out two of the four approved finalists have been in the news for the wrong reasons.

A Google search by The Voice revealed that finalist Stevie Cox, Town Manager for Chadbourn, N.C. since 2007, had a couple of brushes with law enforcement in 2011. After a traffic stop in March 2011, Cox was initially cited by N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Ronnie Walker for driving 78 miles per hour in a 60 MPH zone. As a result of that stop, Cox was arrested by the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation the following week and indicted for speeding, impersonating a police officer, obstructing an officer and delaying police. According to The News Reporter in Whitesville, N.C., the State Trooper who ticketed Cox said Cox was stopped while driving the Town Police Chief’s SUV and initially tried to pass himself off as the Sheriff. The case went to court the following October and ended with a mistrial after the jury deadlocked 7-5. According to information provided to The Voice by the Whitesville Clerk of Court’s office, the District Attorney decided against going forward with another trial and the charge of impersonating a police officer was dismissed in Superior Court in February 2013. Cox pleaded guilty to the speeding charge, which was reduced from 78 MPH to 69 MPH, and paid a $100 fine.

On Nov. 29, 2011, Cox was again ticketed, this time for running a stop sign in downtown Chadbourn, driving with a revoked license plate and without car insurance. A spokesperson in the Clerk of Court’s office told The Voice that Cox “worked out the stop light infraction” so that it was reduced to “improper equipment.” The other two charges were dismissed after the infractions were corrected by Cox. According to Court records, Cox paid a $25 fine and $238 in court costs.

Another of the four finalists for Blythewood’s administrator’s job, Gary Parker, Town Administrator for Sunset Beach, N.C. until he retired last December, apparently had problems being transparent with his own government. It was reported in the media that in May 2012, Parker refused to release a list of salaries of town officials to the town’s mayor, Richard Cerrato, after Cerrato requested it. Parker told the media that he would only release the salaries to the Mayor if the Town Council approved it. A Sunset Beach Town Council member, who asked not to be identified, told The Voice that all town officials’ salaries are public record in North Carolina and that a vote of the Council was not required for their release.

When ask by The Voice on Tuesday whether Blythewood’s selection committee or Town Hall had vetted the finalists before they were announced, Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross said they were not.

“We had a great process,” Ross said, “but maybe when we do this again, we will Google them earlier.”

Councilman Bob Mangone, chairman of the selection committee, told The Voice that he took responsibility for the failure to Google earlier. Ross said he is conducting a last re-interview of two of the finalists, but that a final decision will not be made until the end of the month. The other two finalists are Wade Luther, the Economic Development Director for Camden, and T. Lloyd Kerr, former Development Services Director for Escambia County, Fla. Kerr is not currently employed.

WINNSBORO – In spite of urgings from several citizens to table the matter until more information could be made available to the public, County Council OK’d second reading Monday night of an ordinance to establish the 2014-2015 budget. The reading passed with only Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) voting nay.

Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, said the maximum tax increase allowed by law this year was 1.46 percent, and while he said the budget was still in its preliminary stage, it included no tax increase and no new positions for 2014-2015. The County is converting the Workforce Liaison from a part-time position to a full-time department, Pope said, and the budget also comprises increases in health insurance costs as well as in fuel and vehicle maintenance costs.

The preliminary general fund weighs in at $25,665,917, up 12.87 percent from $22,693,036 in 2013-2014. With the addition of $7,629,997 in special revenue and other funds, which is a decrease of more than 30 percent from last year’s $10,905,568, the total 2014-2015 County budget sits at $33,295,894 – down 1.06 percent from $33,598,604 last year.

On the revenue side, the County is expecting to collect more than $3 million over and above what it collected last year to balance the budget. The sharpest increases come from court fines and fees ($487,000 vs. last year’s $368,000), state agency collections ($893,000 vs. last year’s $703,800), taxes ($22,482,117 vs. last year’s $19,015,020) and other revenues ($867,604 vs. $126,116 last year). The fund balance, meanwhile, is down from $2,019,300 last year to $300,811.

Departmental Highlights

County Council’s budget is up from $287,162 last year to $315,458 in 2014-2015, with increases in supplies and materials (from $1,850 to $32,950), contractual services (from $5,300 to $20,700) and travel (from $45,700 to $46,700). The County Administrator’s budget is also up from $257,486 to $367,845, with increases in personal services (from $237,166 to $282,325) and contractual services (from $2,200 to $67,900).

Human Resources sees its budget drop from $401,560 in 2013-2014 to $270,597 in 2014-2015, while Purchasing drops from $181,131 to $171,264 and Data Processing drops from $657,302 to $612,091. General operating costs are also expected to dip, from $2,710,379 to $2,120,954, as do funds for Building Maintenance, from $741,640 to $724,211.

The Tax Assessors budget is up slightly from $346,916 to $396,079, as is that of the Delinquent Tax Collector, from $156,225 to $167,880. Planning, Building and Zoning is also expected to increase, from $519,480 to $523,578, while vehicle maintenance costs are up from $193,451 to $197,713.

The budget for the Economic Development Department drops slightly from $138,682 to $130,126, while the Detention Center’s budget also dips from $1,753,958 to $1,712,380. Seeing increases are the Road Maintenance fund, from $1,487,782 to $1,513,933; the Solid Waste fund, from $2,079,413 to $2,118,852; Animal Control, from $230,293 to $232,650; the Probate Judge, from $146,693 to $151,239; the Tax Auditor, from $114,417 to $118,561; the Clerk of Court, from $308,999 to $314,655; Family Court, from $124,171 to $126,296; and the Sheriff’s Office, from $3,129,992 to $3,258,849.

Down somewhat are the County Treasurer, from $152,027 to $148,006; the Coroner’s Office, from $97,040 to $96,245; the Magistrate’s Court, from $438,376 to $431,555; Voter Registration/Election Commission, from $229,242 to $229,134; Veteran’s Affairs, from $124,250 to $105,307; and Emergency Management, from $715,227 to $698,143.

The Department of Social Services will see a slight uptick, from $67,600 to $74,837, while the County Allocations fund is up from $905,687 to $1,077,904. The Recreation fund is up to $888,679 from $796,691, while funds for the Midlands Tech Quickjobs Training Facility are down from $61,200 to $55,500.

Administration has moved EMS into the general fund for 2014-2015, adding $3,053,794 to the budget, while creating the Workforce Liaison Department adds $53,238.

Pope said another work session on the budget will be held May 5 to finalize the numbers heading into the third and final reading.

WINNSBORO – After the long-awaited results of the water feasibility study from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, released earlier this year and reviewed by Fairfield County and the Town of Winnsboro two weeks ago, recommended no change to how Winnsboro obtained additional water for its system, representatives from the County and the Town sat down last week with staff members from the office of 5th Congressional District Republican Mick Mulvaney to probe the federal government for funds to expand Winnsboro’s water system.

Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy, Fairfield County Council Chairman David Ferguson, Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry and Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson, as well as County administrators, met with Dan Hamlon, Mulvaney’s district congressional liaison, and Al Simpson, Mulvaney’s Chief of Staff, in the Midlands Technical College conference room on April 24 to review Winnsboro’s needs and to discuss potential funding options. While Winnsboro had its sights set on drawing up to 1 million gallons a day from Lake Monticello, thereby liberating itself from the City of Columbia, the Army Corps recommended just the opposite, suggesting that Winnsboro continue to supplement its reservoir with water purchased from the Capital City.

“Columbia hasn’t been that easy to deal with,” Gaddy said during the April 24 sit-down. “Our experience with dealing with Columbia has been less than ideal. If we were to have an industry that’s a big water user, if they’re looking at Fairfield County or Richland County, then Columbia can give them a break on water up there. But they’re not going to give us a break on what they’re selling us water for. So it puts us at a disadvantage in trying to recruit industry.”

Winnsboro does have a preliminary agreement with SCANA to draw up to 1 million gallons a day from Lake Monticello, on which the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station sits, Gaddy said. But running the infrastructure out to Western Fairfield to tap that source would cost anywhere between $8 and $12 million, Gaddy said, and could take 18 to 24 months to complete.

“If we were able to do that, I think it would give us more leeway and more negotiation power with water rates if we were fortunate enough to have an industry that wanted to come,” Gaddy said, “instead of feeling like we’re having to ride in the backseat to Columbia.”

A municipal bond to fund the project is unfeasible, Gaddy said, because 75-80 percent of the repayment would have to come from water revenues. That would mean a dramatic rate increase, Gaddy said.

But Mulvaney’s staff said help was available, although not, perhaps, in one lump sum. Simpson said several smaller grants could get the project under way, and Hamlon said one such grant is available annually from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“This sounds like this is the money they (the USDA) set aside for exactly what you’re talking about,” Hamlon said. “It’s competitive, but it sounds like you’re on your way.”

“Grants open and close all the time,” Simpson added, and Hamlon said the USDA grant in question was closing in May, but would reopen next year. Grants are more difficult to acquire now than they were a decade ago, Simpson said, but the funds are out there.

“You have to hunt for them,” Hamlon said.

“Anything you can do to point us in the right direction of where we need to dig,” Gaddy said. “I don’t expect you to do the digging, if you’ll just tell us where to dig.”

The first step in obtaining these grants, from both the federal and the state government, is to have a completed study from the Army Corps of Engineers, Mulvaney’s staffers said. In that regard, they noted, Winnsboro was moving in the right direction.

WINNSBORO – An ordinance to correct a 2011 redistricting mishap that left District 5 without representation on the Fairfield County School Board and lumped two Board members into District 6 may be before County Council next month. Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) asked Interim County Administrator Milton Pope to work with the County’s attorney to prepare the ordinance and have it ready by Council’s May 12 meeting.

Ferguson pledged to address the issue earlier this month when it became evident that a bill passed by the General Assembly in February and signed by Gov. Nikki Haley on March 4 could only correct the districts for the School Board. That left Board member Bobby Cunningham in the precarious position of living in two districts – District 5 for the Board and District 6 for County Council. When answering questions about the matter two weeks ago, Ferguson – as he has maintained since the issue first came to light in February – said the error occurred at the state level and was not the result of negligence on the part of County Council.

“It was kind of indicated that it was our fault that it was like that, and that’s not our (job),” Ferguson said on April 14. “That’s done in Columbia.”

Monday night, a letter from the S.C. Budget and Control Board (BCB), read before Council by Pope, appears to support Ferguson’s position.

Signed by BCB Director Bobby M. Bowers, the letter states, in part, “. . . it was determined that due to an error in the addressing of the 911 road centerline file, both Mr. Cunningham and Ms. Marchella Pauling were placed in the incorrect districts . . .”

According to the 911 file, the letter states, Cunningham’s address appears to lie within the town limits of Winnsboro, which would place him in District 6. A review of property tax records by the BCB, however, shows Cunningham’s address to actually lie just west of the town limits, and therefore in District 5.

Bowers wrote that the error was “inadvertent,” and recommends Council crafting an ordinance to conform with the School Board plan passed by the General Assembly.

Cunningham was elected to represent District 5 on the Fairfield County School Board in 2010. Following the 2010 census that showed a shift in racial demographics in areas of the county, County Council initiated a federally mandated redistricting process, which it completed in 2011. At that time, Cunningham was inexplicably drawn out of District 5 and into District 6. That left the School Board without representation from District 5 and placed two representatives – Cunningham and William Frick – in District 6. Cunningham said he was not made aware of the change until he showed up to vote in the 2012 elections.

“Why was an incumbent taken out of his district in the middle of his term?” Cunningham asked rhetorically when reached for comment Tuesday.

WINNSBORO – Town Council held its second budget workshop April 24 as Town Manager Don Wood reviewed the utility fund, capital expenditure requests and grant match requests for fiscal year 2014-2015.

Next year’s utility fund is set at $15,349,538. Woods recommended a 2 percent cost of living adjustment for employees as well as a 2 percent increase in utility rates to keep pace with the consumer price index. Woods told Council to expect employee benefits expenses to escalate again in the coming year, but he said the good news is that the 1999 Combined Utility System Revenue Refunding Bond in the amount of $11,815,000 will mature in August resulting in only one more month of debt service. With the maturation of the bond and the resulting decrease in utilities expenses, Wood said the Town could forgo a utility rate increase, but he recommended that the Town increase rates every year enough to at least keep pace with the consumer price index which is currently at 2 percent.

“That would bring in about $275,000 for the year, which would help,” Wood said later in the meeting.

Councilman Jackie Wilkes asked if there was any kind of bond the Town could get if it decided to bring water from Lake Monticello.

“We’d have to allocate that cost to that expense for the debt service,” Wood replied. “With a revenue bond, the water profit would have to support the cost of the bond.”

Wood said Council could expect sewer pretreatment fees to jump from $3,745 last fiscal year to $14,576 in FY2014-15, a 33 percent fee increase. One reason for the jump, Wood said, is that they have not been increased for several years.

Looking at the Town’s capital expenditure requests for next fiscal year, Woods said it is more of a wish list, with requests totaling $1,820,601 in the combined general fund and utilities fund.

“That’s a bunch of money for us to come up with,” Wood said, “so we’re going to have to make these requests single-item grants, with Council voting on each individual request when it comes up. I hope that the public can understand that we’re not gouging anyone. We’ve got an awful lot of money coming in, but it’s all going right back out.”

Wood reported that the Town has applied for about $223,000 in matching grants, of which $86,117 are for the general fund and $136,900 for capital expenditures.

At the third budget workshop, scheduled for May 8, Wood will present a combined general fund and capital expenditure review. If another workshop is needed at that time, it will be held May 22. The first reading of the budget is expected at the June 3 Council meeting with second reading and public hearing on June 17. The FY2014-15 budget takes effect July 1.