The ranking process is over for projects sponsored by County Council for the Capital Penny Sales Tax, but those selected by council may not be the choice of the CPST Commission.

All 12 projects which requested County Council sponsorship will be forwarded to the CPST Commission, where the list for the November referendum will be crafted.

CPST commissioners did ask that the $20.6 million in county-sponsored projects be ranked in preference by council.

After two nights of presentations by the supporters of the projects, each councilman ranked the projects based on economic impact, benefits relative to cost, distributive equity and overall project importance. The council could give each project up to 25 points in each of the four categories with the top mark by council members being 100 points.

The points totals of all the council members were then added together to form the rankings.

However, Council Chairman Henry “Buddy” Livingston stated that the council ranking would have no binding force on which projects will be chosen by the CPST Commission.

Last night, Livingston revealed the ranking to his fellow council members in a meeting that lasted just under 15 minutes.

Tonight, council is slated to tally an official vote that passes the list along to the CPST Commission.

In the brief discussion, County Administrator Wayne Adams said that the City of Newberry would be considering co-sponsoring the Opera House project with the county. At first, city officials passed on sponsoring the project to the Capital Projects Sales Tax Commission.

Also, the Water and Sewer Authority will be co-sponsoring with the county the phase two work at the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park. Phase two includes water and sewer lines.

Councilman Steve Stockman said he had met with Lake Murray Public Safety officials who state that approval of their project would knock any need for additions to the emergency services station for 25 years. The construction of the building was funded through the most recent the current penny sales tax referendum.

Stockman stated that county-hired building experts had looked at the project and estimated a $365,179 price tag, compared to the $294,000 estimated by the public safety officials.

Councilman Les Hipp voiced his concern for the Village Cemetery, which is owned by the county and located adjacent to the ballfield behind Boundary Street Elementary School, saying the county is obligated to take action.

“It is disgraceful that a cemetery is acting as a parking lot,” said Hipp of the town’s oldest public cemetery.

The council agreed to look at refurbishing efforts for the cemetery in the upcoming budget process.

Capital Project Sales Tax

County Council

Combined Grading Totals

Rank Project name Project Grade Costs

(Possible 700 points)

1 Piedmont Tech 658 $6 million

2 Mid-Carolina Commerce Park Phase 2 625 $2.5 million

3 Council on Aging addition 561 $1,112,707

4 Four county fire substations 521 $1,582,345

5 Opera House Renovations 485 $656,991

6 Conversion of old Library 436 $1,426,770

7 New Whitmire Rescue/EMS facility 417 $1,009,225

8 NCMH Emergency Room addition 360 $5,444,682

9 Whitmire Library expansion 356 $831,092

10 Haz-Mat Bay at Newberry Fire Dept. 351 $523,325

11 Village Cemetery 296 $25,000

12 Lake Murray Public Safety addition 274 $365,179