Category: Government

WINNSBORO – The Town of Winnsboro’s Finance Committee considered a request Monday evening from Jesse Douglas, Director of Gas, Water and Sewer, for tracks for the excavator, a utility trailer, working tools, two sewer pumps, a chain saw and lab equipment for the sewer plant. During Town Council’s regular meeting, which followed, Council approved the $21,000 request.

Finance Director Kathy Belton also briefed Council on last month’s financial report. The report showed that revenues are up from last year and the Town is in a good place financially at this point, she said.

Council also agreed to waive a late fee for a Fairfield Memorial Hospital utility bill and allow them to make payments on their outstanding balance.

Council meets again May 7 at 6 p.m.

RIDGEWAY – Ridgeway Town Council voted 4-0 last week to take $13,677 out of their contingency fund to help pay for the conversion of treatment of the town’s water supply from chlorine to a chloramine-based method. Mayor Charlene Herring reported during Council’s April 11 meeting that the ammonia tank has been purchased and expects the conversion to be completed in the next two weeks. The total cost for the project was $172,220, with the Town of Winnsboro picking up $158,543 of the tab. Herring said notices will be sent out to water customers once the changeover is complete in the event they notice a change in the taste of their drinking water.

Herring also suggested that Council consider taking bids on a fence to be placed around the heating and air conditioning unit outside the Century House. The Mayor said that a new business next door to the building Ridgeway uses for Town Hall has increased traffic of large trucks through the shared driveway. The unit has suffered damage in the past after being clipped by a truck using the narrow driveway. Councilman Russ Brown suggested roping the area off as a cheaper alternative.

Council also voted to accept the recommendation of the Ridgeway Planning Commission to adopt two changes to the Town’s zoning ordinance. The first amendment changes the definition of “Residential Detached” to “A single dwelling unit in a single structure which is surrounded by yards or other open areas.” The Planning Commission’s report to Council said the change is to clear up “ambiguity regarding the types of structures permitted on a lot that is zoned R-1.” The change will limit construction to one “Dwelling Unit” per lot under R-1.

The second change will put manufactured homes on a case-by-case basis on land zoned R-2. Construction of manufactured homes will still be allowed, the Planning Commission’s report states, but will have to be approved on an individual basis after a hearing by the Board of Zoning Appeals as a special exception.

“This change will give the Town greater discretion in approving proposed construction of homes of this type,” the report states.

Both zoning changes will still have to go through the public hearing process, which has not yet been scheduled.

WINNSBORO – The Town of Winnsboro met for their first work session on the 2013-2014 budget April 11. Council is working with an estimated general fund of $3,182,843, down $794,255 from last year. During this first session, Council only reviewed the general fund budget and will review the utilities fund during the next budget session.

Town Manager Don Wood said this is the first look at the budget, which was developed from looking back five years and taking into consideration the information from the auditors. The biggest line item in the general fund is the Department of Public Safety, which is looking for $1,587,536 for 2013-2014, an increase of $136,985. Public Safety along with most other departments is seeing an increase in medical rates. The next budget work session is scheduled for April 25.

FAIRFIELD – County Council passed the third and final reading on an ordinance to issue $24.06 million in bonds at a special called meeting Monday night, but not without considerable discussion and suggestions by one Council member that the issue might have been rushed through and critical decisions made in secret.

Councilwoman Carolyn Robinson (District 2) said the issue had moved through Council very quickly, without Council having had the opportunity to truly sit down and discuss it. Robinson questioned the amount of money designated for recreation in the economic development plan funded by the bonds, and how that $500,000 per district would be spent.

“We saw the wish list in 2009,” Robinson said. “We saw it again in 2011, and the next presentation we have is by Tiffany Harrison (Fairfield Economic Development Director) and it’s already what we want and we vote on it. It’s voted on back there to go forward with it. There are too many things in this bond issue that we have never discussed. We’re talking about $3.5 million for recreation.”

Robinson also questioned the $100,000 slated for upgrades to fire departments in each district.

“Who’s going to make that decision?” Robinson asked. “Is council never going to have any input in anything anymore? Because in the last several months Council has had input in very few things and it is time that Council starts taking their responsibility for which they were elected, and doing this rather having than things dictated to us by two or three people.”

Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) took issue with what he perceived as Robinson’s characterization of votes taking place behind closed doors.

“I want to clarify, there’s never been a vote ‘back there’ as long as Mr. Ferguson has been on Council,” Ferguson said. “You guys with pencils, I want to be real clear. There’s never been a vote taken outside this room. It is kind of disturbing to this Chair that someone on this Council feels that they have not been informed and the other six of us evidently have been informed, because we’ve all been at the same meetings.”

Vice Chairman Dwayne Perry (District 1) also took issue, this time with Robinson’s charge that Council was being led around by the nose.

“Last I checked, we get to vote on this,” Perry said. “I’m not the type of person where I’m going to have anything dictated to me. Sure, we’ve been talking about this (recreation)  . . .  I don’t think it’s a matter of where we’re going to put them (parks), we’re just talking about the funding to put them, and to improve fire protection. No one is making us vote a particular way.”

Robinson later backed away from her suggestion that votes were taken in executive session, but stood firm on her assertion that Council was being kept out of the loop on important matters.

“I misspoke about voting ‘back there.’ Consensus is back there, not votes,” she said. “I’m very disturbed about things that are coming down that I feel are dictated to us without an actual workshop we were supposed to have for lots of things so we all have an opportunity to try to work things out and talk about them. Knowing that I’ve been in the process a long time, this is typical legislation. You come up with brilliant ideas, then when it’s time to put pencil to paper, there is no exact system in working it out.”

“This (bond issue) is more than just about recreation,” Perry added. “We’ve had plenty of opportunity to discuss all these items.”

Mikel Trapp (District 3) said he was also concerned with the recreation aspect of the bond, although he supported the bond issue as a whole. In District 3, he said, there are 14 communities and a single regional park would be of little use to them. The district already has several mini-parks, he said, and a few more similar facilities would better benefit the area.

“My opinion would be that once we pass this, we sit down and give each district the option to decide what’s best for their district,” Trapp said. “If we could get a couple more (mini-parks) in the areas that do not have anything, I think that would suit the citizens fine.”

“I don’t think Council would turn a deaf ear to that,” Ferguson replied.

The bond issue passed final reading on a 4-1 vote, with Robinson the lone dissenter. Councilmen David Brown (District 7) and Kamau Marcharia (District 4) were not present at Monday night’s meeting. Council will hold their next regular meeting April 22 at 6 p.m.

WINNSBORO – The winter rains have come and gone, the reservoir is on the mend and Winnsboro Town Council, at their April 16 meeting, officially lifted draught restrictions for all of its water customers. But with a projected dry summer on the doorstep, there is no guarantee of how long it will be before customers are once more faced with brown lawns, dirty cars and empty swimming pools.

Fairfield County, meanwhile, is looking for a source of water to supply two new industrial parks in the hopes of attracting industry, but unless a new agreement between Winnsboro and the City of Columbia can be resurrected, the chances for that are quickly diminishing.

Town Council announced at their April 16 meeting that they would not be signing the proposed contract with Columbia, an agreement that would have upped the number of gallons already flowing north from the Capital City from 400,000 a day to 1 million. Unless something dramatic happens in the coming weeks, that contract is dead in the water.

“The terms of the contract were so arduous we refused to sign it,” John Fantry, special counsel to the Town of Winnsboro, said. “The document was sent to us as ‘This is all we can do. This is what we give everyone else.’ And it was non-negotiable.”

Fantry said the contract contained language that would allow Columbia to alter the volume at any time, shut the water off at any time and raise the rates at any time – all without notice. Columbia also would not guarantee the quality of water, nor would they accept responsibility for the lines on the Fairfield County side of border if an accident or error occurred on their end that resulted in damage to the Winnsboro lines.

“There were a lot of things in this contract that were in the original 400,000-gallon contract that, after a year and a half of negotiations, got hammered out,” Winnsboro Mayor Roger Gaddy said. “All we wanted to do was change the amount from 400,000 gallons to 1 million gallons, and those same things were put back in this contract. We went through all these issues before and we corrected it, and here they are again.”

Calls to the City of Columbia were not returned at press time, but the Town of Winnsboro has given no indication that they are willing to bend to Columbia’s demands. Still smarting, and perhaps exhausted, from the 18-month process to bring the 400,000 gallons a day to Blythewood customers, Winnsboro appears to be looking to pass the baton.

“Winnsboro has done all the legwork, paid the attorneys, and we’re tired of doing the dance,” Fantry said. “If the County can come up with a contract that’s amenable, we’ll sign it, but we’re tired of running back and forth to Columbia. We’re tired of everybody pulling our strings and we’re prepared to stay with the 400,000 gallons and if the water runs out, it runs out.”

Right now, Fantry said, he was bracing himself for the task of telling prospective water customers in Blythewood that they couldn’t hook onto the line.

A meeting between Winnsboro and the County was scheduled for Wednesday (April 17) to discuss water negotiations. For a full report on that meeting, see next week’s edition of The Voice.

RICHLAND – The $225 million 2013-2014 general fund budget for Richland School District 2 will have its second and last public hearing (and only vote) Tuesday at Westwood High School during the next School Board meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. The vote will most likely result in higher taxes for the county’s businesses since that is the only way the District can raise the necessary funds.

The passage of ACT 388 eliminated the residential property tax source, and the amount of money that comes to the District from personal income and sales tax are out of the Board’s control.

Those wishing to study the budget prior to the meeting will find it by going to richland2.org, then click on School Board, Agendas, April 9 meeting, then Budget.

The District’s finance department will present three budget options to the School Board based on: 1) No tax increase for business (0 mills); 2) Middle tax increase for business (9 mills); and 3) Maximum tax increase for business (12 mills). Millage is a complicated formula that determines the tax per each $100,000 of business property values.

The 12 mill budget reflects a $10.6 million increase over the District’s current budget.

Under a 12 mill budget:

*Step increase for eligible employees (including benefits) increase $4,479,379.

The step increase is the 2 percent raise required by law for all certified teachers. Historically, the District has extended this raise to all employees including the 36 or so District employees who each earn more than $100,000, as well as to Superintendent Dr. Katie Brochu, who earns more than a quarter of a million dollars with benefits. Meanwhile, some District employees, such as aides in the classroom, earn wages at poverty level for a family of four.

*An increase of $399,352 to hire four more School Resource Officers.

Social worker salary schedule moves to teacher salary, for an increase of $161,439.

In plain English, that means school social workers would receive the same pay as teachers with masters degrees. The Board supports this salary increase proposal as well as Board member Melinda Anderson’s frequent calls to increase the District’s number of social workers to meet the District’s changing demographic needs. But in many instances, the social worker’s job is a duplication of the same services provided by the County.

*Creation of quality & development support staff position for an increase of $111,250.

The Board recently increased the previous budget by $200,000 to expand professional development opportunities for para-professionals (secretaries, etc.). The proposed 12 mill budget calls for the creation of a new staff position (at a cost of $111,250) to track the additional $200,000 professional development opportunities.

*An additional $863,324 for the Center for Knowledge – North.

When a duplication of the Center for Knowledge for elementary students was suggested for the northern end of the District (to be housed in Muller Road Middle School in Blythewood), it was recorded that the cost would be $672, 690. Now cost almost $200,000 more.

*Foreign language in elementary schools eliminated from budget

To realize $1.3 million in savings, the District has eliminated foreign language in elementary schools from the budget altogether. Many Richland 2 parents continue to protest this elimination since they feel it is the hallmark of an exemplary school district.

It is reasonable to expect the budget to have a direct correlation to the District’s academic success and progress. Yet, after almost four years of the Brochu budget, there has been no turnaround in the three-year drop in high school SAT scores or the continuing drop in elementary and middle school PASS scores.

All members of the community are encouraged to attend the budget meeting. There will be two opportunities to make comments to the Board — once before the vote and once after the vote.