County Christmas Tree Brings Holiday Joy, Savings to Taxpayers

By Greg Wilson/Publisher, The Anderson Observer 

When Anderson County Council approved the purchase the 28-foot Majestic Mountain Pine artificial Christmas tree in 2015, there were more than a few wondering if the news was good tidings of great joy.

Some argued in favor of planting another live tree, something to replace the odd non-traditional magnolia tree (once used for the holidays) which was dying on the town square after being damaged by an ice storm.

However, experts were united that the land in front of the new courthouse was not fertile soil for a live tree to flourish. 

The other option was to buy a cut live tree and haul it to the square every holiday season. The cost of buying, transporting and hauling away a comparably sidzed live tree would be roughly $6,000 a year, plus the cost of lights and decorations (which though not reoccurring, is costly to maintain).  

Added to the annual cost is a two week of labor costs to the county, since traditionally it has taken a week to set up and a week to take down a cut live tree on the square, including the time to decorate and undecorated the tree. The price tag based on needed personnel totals $7,900. 

So the annual costs of a cut live tree in the 25-30-foot range would have cost the county, assuming costs remain constant (which is unlikely), roughly $13,900 per year.  

Instead, the county purchased a 28-foot Majestic Mountain Pine, fully decorated and lighted artificial tree for $25,000 in 2015, and has added ornaments and used - in the words of Anderson County Adminstrator Rusty Burns - "electronic fertilizer" to "grow" the tree each year since. Since that year, the county has spent an additional $22,500 on the tree and ornaments, bringining the total cost of the downtown holiday icon to $47,500.

The savings come from both the now-40-foot-tall tree, which can now be built and decorated in less than three days and removed in a day, and labor costs (the live tree took 10 days to bring in, stabilize, and another week-10 days to remove and clean up).

Had county council chosen to to with a live tree, the cost for the years 2015-2020 would have been approximately $83,400.

Over 20 years, the warranteed life of the artificial tree, at the current spending level, the county will save more than $200,000 of taxpayer money.

The current Christmas tree has been wildly popular with citizens and vistors. There have been school group visits, family Christmas card photos taken, weddings performed and warm clothing placed on the branches for our friends and neighbors in need. 

It generates holiday foot traffic downtown and brings visitors who stay to eat downtown or visit Carolina Wren Park to ice skate. 

But perhaps best of all, it is a beautiful Christmas tree which really dresses Anderson up for the holidays.

Think of it as a yearly Christmas gift from the leadership of Anderson County who saw a way to make the holidays better downtown and save taxpayers money at the same time. So if you see you council representative, thank them. And thank Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns, who loves Christmas perhaps as much as I do, and I start listening to holiday tunes in late summer. It was his vision and research that led to the path to purchase the tree.

If you need a bump this year getting in the holiday spirit, drive by later this week after dark and check it out. (And if you want to shoot the family photo in front of the tree downtown, you still have plenty of time to do so.)

Closing out a difficut 2020, let's all take a deep breath under our face masks and find as many ways as we can to enjoy a Merry Christmas and be grateful for those who are helping our community do so.