Council Looks for Budget Answers, Approves Dog Park Land

Anderson County Council on Tuesday night approved leasing land near the Anderson County Library for a new downtown dog park, and also looked at the fiscal year 2017 budget and forward to issues which the county will face as it addresses future budgets.  

The dog park property will be leased to the city for $1 per year for a finite period of time (to be determined) and the costs for the equipment, construction and maintenance of the park will fall to the non-profit group working for the park.

But most Tuesday night’s meeting involved the budget. 

Anderson County took an $8 million cut in funding as a result of decisions made a decade ago by the South Carolina Legislature, said Anderson County Councilman Francis Crowder, chairman of the finance committee.

Crowder said tax relief and rollback in automobile taxes were mostly to blame for the cuts.

“Meanwhile, $7 million of services we provide are state mandated,” Crowder said.

Crowder said that coupled with rising employee insurance and retirement plan costs, the state has left the county with limited options for addressing the issue of funding.  

“We have tried to be good servants of the taxpayers dollars,” Crowder said. “But now we are faced with calamities, and the state is faced with calamities.

He said S.C. state government has adopted a philosophy of putting off key issues, such as paving roads. 

Crowder said citizens want Anderson’s 1,399 miles of county roads paved and maintained. Other critical needs such as plans for a new detention center, funding the Anderson County Sports and Entertainment Complex, and expanding and improving recreational facilities will also require additional sources of revue.

 “The legislature says they have given us a tool to address the problem by passing a road fee,” Crowder said, adding that many other counties in the state were already using road fees to maintain and repair roads.

“The second thing they said is that we could pass a sales tax,” Crowder said. 

He said a third option for raising much needed funds would be through a countywide hospitality tax.

“Every city in the county already has a hospitality tax,”  Crowder said. “The only place that does not have a hospitality tax is in the incorporated part of the county.” 

“We have to address the budget or just kick the bucket down the road. There needs to be a mechanism in place to find a way to achieve the things we want to achieve. We want the whole county to be a part of this process. The problem is, people will not come down here and get involved in government.” 

“Input of citizens vital and important to this council.”

Anderson County Councilwoman Gracie Floyd agreed on the need for a countywide hospitality tax.

“You are paying for it anyway,” Floyd said. “Only the city is getting it. For two or three years I have been begging council to pass a hospitality tax.”

Meanwhile Floyd challenged another potential move of $10,000 from District 2’s recreation account to fund the Homeland Park bus route.

A pair of community citizens also shared her concern, including community leader Horace Alexander, who expressed concern over cutting funds for recreation. 

“We put a lot of time and effort working with our community and our youth,” Alexander said. “The alphabet street community is our focus this year. “It would be a disservice if we pull funding from recreation for transportation.”

Alexander said he lives in the Governors community off S.C. 81, but that he has a business in, and grew up in District 2. 

“If we aren’t careful, the issues that plague District 2 will flow over to your districts too,” Alexander said.