NEWBERRY — With a 6-1 vote, with Councilman Scott Cain voting against, Newberry County Council approved the 2019-20 budget, with amendments.
With 15/17 amendments approved, the total budget at third reading was $25,490,899. Estimated mill increase of 1.9. Rollback millage was 122.2; increase of 1.9 mills for a total of 124.1. It is worth noting that the Newberry County auditor will set the levy in August.
The 1.9 mills increases represents a 1.6 percent increase in the rate of taxation by Council, according to County Administrator Wayne Adams.
“The 1.6 percent already accounts for reassessed value in the tax base at large, i.e., on average. (1.9 divided by 122.2 – the rollback millage.) Some property values will go up faster than the tax base at large, but that is an expression of a particular property’s market value, and increases there would have occurred under the state law requiring reassessment regardless of Council’s actions,” Adams said. “Council cannot vote to lower the market value of property, nor do they have any control over such matters. State law purposely insulates them from this possibility.”
Prior to the vote, Council went through 17 amendments — voting no on two of them.
The amendments were as follows:
Amendment 5.1: Strike funding in the amounts of $40,000 for Daytime Fire Response and $20,000 for Daytime Response Training/Equipment. This removes funding for daytime firefighting response that would be augmented by paying a $5,000 stipend to five Sheriff’s deputies and the Emergency Services director, all of whom would assist with daytime response to structure fires countywide, when available. Equipment, training and other related expenses will be removed as well.
This amendment was approved after Councilman Kirksey Koon made a motion and Councilman Travis Reeder seconded. This amendment reduced the estimated millage needs by 0.4 mills.
Amendment 5.2: Strike funding in the amount of $45,000 for Replacement of Fire Truck Tires. This removes funding for replacement of tires on fire trucks due to age-related deterioration in the amount of $45,000.
This amendment was approved after Councilwoman Harriett Rucker made a motion and Reeder seconded. This amendment reduces the estimated tax millage needs by 0.3 mills.
Rucker said this should be the first priority if funding is left over from this year’s budget, or for next year’s budget. Councilman Henry Livingston said this is an item he thinks is a priority, but unfortunately, and fortunately, the County’s trucks don’t run enough miles to wear tires out, but it does become an issue because of the age of the tires.
“So I think it does need to be a priority next year,” he said.
With the amendment passing, staff will look for opportunities to fund this item through under-expenditures in other areas of the budget.
Amendment 5.3: Reduce funding for Council Contingency in the amount of $123,499. This decreases Council Contingency by $123,499, leaving a balance of $200,000 for FY 2019-20. The current fiscal year’s Council Contingency line item (FY 2018-19) is funded at $276,641; the reduction taken would be from a proposed FY 2019-20 amount of $323,499.
This amendment was approved after Koon made a motion and Councilman Steven Stockman seconded. This amendment reduces the estimated tax millage needs by 0.9 mills.
Amendment 5.4: Reduce the amount allocated for funding in Capital Repairs, Buildings in the amount of $25,167. This decreases Capital Repairs, Buildings by $25,167, leaving a balance of $194,833 for FY 2019-20. The current fiscal year’s Capital Repairs, Buildings line item (FY 2018-19) is funded at $217,500; the reduction taken would be from a proposed FY 2019-20 amount of $220,000.
This amendment was approved after Reeder made a motion and Rucker seconded. This amendment reduces the estimated tax millage needs by 0.2 mills.
Amendment 5.5: Strike funding for Contracted Services, Cleaning in the amount of $54,000. This removes funding in the amount of $54,000 for Contracted Services, Cleaning that would fund cleaning services at the county offices located in Newberry Square and at the Magistrates’ building on Main Street. The County currently has a custodial staff of two people that are responsible for cleaning 155,996 square feet of building space.
Livingston said this was an issue that concerns him; and just like at home, if you don’t take care of it it will deteriorate a lot faster. He also said having two people taking care of everything is a lot.
“Challenge with trying to get the budget down, this is one of those items we are going to let loose because of that. However, I don’t know if it is a long range plan, something that probably needs to be addressed later on.
Council approved this amendment by a 6-1 vote after Stockman made a motion and Rucker seconded. Koon voted against cutting this from the budget. This amendment reduces estimated tax millage by 0.4 mills.
Amendment 5.6: Reduce funding for Miscellaneous Line Items, Clerk of Court in the amount $17,000. This reduces Clerk of Court Miscellaneous line items by $17,000, as offered by the Clerk of Court (Elizabeth Folk) to help reduce tax millage needs.
This amendment was approved after Cain made a motion and Stockman seconded. This amendment reduces estimated tax millage by 0.1 mills.
Amendment 5.7: Reduce funding for Recreation, Miscellaneous in the amount of $10,000. Decreases discretionary/miscellaneous funding by $10,000 from staff recommendations. It is not anticipated that this would impact service delivery.
This amendment was approved after Stockman made a motion and Reeder seconded. This amendment reduces estimated tax millage needs by 0.1 mills.
Amendment 5.8: Strike funding for Fleet Maintenance, Other Equipment in the amount of $13,000. This strikes funding in the amount of $13,000 for Fleet Maintenance tire mounting machine. This equipment will be purchased in FY 2018-19.
This amendment was approved after a motion was made by Koon and seconded by Stockman. This amendment reduces estimated tax millage needs by 0.1 mills.
Amendment 5.9: Strike funding for the Newberry Opera House in the amount of $25,000, and use this funding to reduce the need for revenue derived through property taxation.
This amendment was not approved after Rucker made a motion not to approve it and Reeder seconded. The vote to not approve the amendment was passed with a 5-2 vote, with Stockman and Koon voting against.
Amendment 5.10: Add funding in the amount of $22,700 for a new software program required to bill property taxes on boats and motors on a monthly cycle. Act 223 of 2018 was passed by the S.C. General Assembly, mandating this change. This increases funding for the Auditor’s and Treasurer’s offices in the total amount of $22,700 for a software program required to bill property taxes on boats and motors on a monthly cycle, in accordance with Act 223 of 2018 (a state mandate effective 1/1/2020).
Livingston pointed out that this amendment is mandated by the state, and is another “unfunded mandate by the state government.”
This amendment was approved after a motion from Rucker and a second from Koon. This amendment increases the estimated tax millage needs by 0.2 mills.
Amendment 5.11: Reduce funding from Contingency, One-time Capital in the amount of $9,877 and increase funding Coroner, Capital in the amount of $9,877. This would have decreased funding from Contingency, One-time Capital by $9,877 and increase funding for Coroner, Capital by the same amount. The purpose is for the purchase of a pill counter and three laptops.
Reeder made a motion not to approve this amendment, and Stockman seconded. Reeder said he made the motion because of the fact they are going through this budget and if they approve this, they would have to approve everything else that came through.
“So I think we need to put this off until another time,” Reeder said.
Cain said he believed they should at least provide the pill counter, and that the Coroner’s Office is handling 250 pounds of pills a year that they physically must handle. He also said that this is not coming from their budget, but one time capital expense.
The motion to not approve the amendment was approved 6-1, with Cain voting against.
Amendment 5.12: Increase revenue line item Net Balance Brought Forward (fund balance/savings usage) as a current-year revenue source in the amount of $237,708. This increases fund balance usage by $237,708. Fund balance usage (expenditure of savings) would rise from the staff-recommended level of $757,730 to $995,438 for FY 2019-20. FY 2018-19 Fund Balance Usage was budgeted at $988,802. To the extent that budget variances (positive) for revenues and expenditures for the prior year do not at least equal the amount of fund balance usage in the subsequent year, fund balance declines.
This amendment was approved after Stockman made a motion and Rucker seconded. This amendment decreases estimated tax millage needs by 0.5 mills.
Amendment 5.13: Increase revenue line item Local Government Fund in the amount of $64,263. The General Assembly has increased the Local Government Fund for FY 2019-20. Newberry County’s share of the increase amounts to $64,263, resulting in a total of $1,548,866 for that line item.
This amendment was approved after Koon made a motion and Stockman seconded. This amendment decreases the estimated tax millage needs by 0.5 mills.
Amendment 5.14: Increase revenue line item Fee in Lieu in the amount of $40,365. This increases revenue line item Fee in Lieu in the amount of $40,365 based on updated revenue projections for that line item, the total for which is now projected at $1,705,365.
This amendment was approved after Cain made a motion and Reeder seconded. This amendment decreases the estimated tax revenue needs by 0.3 mills.
Amendment 5.15: Increase revenue line item CCCP-IV D in the amount of $50,016. This increases this line item by $50,016 due to expected additional collections, per the clerk of court.
This amendment was approved after Koon made a motion and Stockman seconded. This amendment decreases the estimated tax revenue needs by 0.4 mills.
Amendment 5.16: Strike funding in the amount of $100,000 for Airport Site Improvements. Removes funding for Airport Site Improvements in the amount of $100,000. These improvements (principally a parking lot) could be delayed until state and federal funding could perhaps pay the bulk of the cost.
This amendment was approved after Koon made a motion and Stockman seconded. This amendment has no impact on estimated tax millage needs.
Amendment 5.17: Authorize staff to adjust final FY 2019-20 budget revenues and expenditures for capital projects to reflect actual progress to date at the time of the budget’s publication. Prior to publication of the final budget, staff would assign more accurate revenue and expenditure numbers among the two budget years (FY 2018-19 and FY 2019-20) based on the most up-to-date invoice payments and outstanding contract amounts. This process would not change project budgets or FY 2019-20 property tax revenue needs.
This amendment was approved after Rucker made a motion and Cain seconded. This amendment does not impact estimated tax millage needs.
Following the amendments, the budget was put out for a vote — with Rucker previously making a motion, and Reeder seconding prior to the discussion of the amendments. Cain said that he still had two issues with the budget this year.
Cain said the first issue was the process.
“They (staff) started out by giving us (Council) a budget that was 11.2 percent increase. Typically, when they give us a budget, they give us a budget that I thought was balanced, meaning with the current net worth of our county, basically millage stays the same. Typically about one percent increase in county revenues every year, take that into consideration and come up with a balanced budget,” Cain said. “This year they didn’t, they came up with a budget, started out with 11.2 percent (increase), which is excessive.”
Cain added that his statements have nothing to do with what is in or not in the budget. Cain also said he was not in-favor-of an increase of any kind during a reassessment year.
Livingston said that in the last 8-10 years Council has lowered the mills by 10 mills.
“I am very proud sitting here today to say we’ve been able to do that,” he said.
He added that none of them (Council members) like a tax increase.
“But, we need to provide services that are required to make sure we have a county we are proud to say is ours, a safe county. When the state continues to increase mandates, and cut the Local Government Funds, unfortunately we have tried to monitor our monies over the years, cutting it.”
Livingston added that he feels the 1.9 mill increases this year is justified for the quality of care that is provided to Newberry County residents.