NEWBERRY — Public Works Director Mike Pisano presented proposed changes coming to the Newberry County Transfer Station to Newberry County Council earlier this month.
According to Pisano, the cost to run the station is about $2,204,481 annually, tipping fee revenue annually brings in $1,171,438, this leaves a shortfall of $1,033,043.
Pisano discussed their plan to decrease that shortfall.
“We have identified users who dump over 1,000 tons (mega users) at the transfer station. Our consultant has recommended a surcharge for mega users. Staff recommends a $2/ton surcharge for anything over 1,000 tons and increasing the base fee from $49/ton to $51/ton,” Pisano said.
Currently, the City of Newberry does not pay tipping fees for commercial trash, this plan would also charge the city for commercial trash. Pisano said the projected revenue from charging the City of Newberry for commercial, implementing a surcharge for mega users and increasing the base fee will generate a total of $1,779,333 in revenue.
Pisano said the projected shortfall for the new fiscal year will be $425,149; however, he said it is likely to be more due to fuel costs.
In other business, three departments presented to council requesting an increase in funding for the new fiscal year for new hires.
Newberry County Coroner Laura Kneece requested funding for a full-time position and an increase in pay for two part-time positions.
Kneece explained that call volumes have increased since 2020 and part of that, she said, is due to COVID-19.
“We are seeing increases in overdose related deaths, as well. Our call volume right now is 127, about a death per day, and not all scene responses, we also have phone deaths and hospital deaths that we are tasked to take care of,” Kneece said.
Kneece said in the past five years her office has seen a huge turnover.
“Had 15 employees (in that five years) come in and work, I used training money to train – over $4,000 in training budget, just to have them resign. The reason most resigned, the demand of the job is not worth the pay,” she said. “Currently, we have one full time personnel, myself, and two part-time personnel.”
Kneece requested one full-time position at a salary of $35,000, including fringe benefits, making the total over $60,000. Kneece also requested bumping up the salary of her two deputy coroners to $15,000 a year.
Solicitor David Stumbo made a request to hire an experienced attorney, on contract for one year, to help with the caseload caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stumbo said the pandemic took a wrecking ball to the criminal justice system; with court basically not being held, except for a few exceptions. With law enforcement still going out and making arrests, Stumbo said they were unable to process those cases.
“Prior to the pandemic, we were running about 400 cases pending in General Sessions, that was low. We were getting cases to trial in usually less than a year. Today, we are at 1,504 pending warrants in Newberry, not because we quit working hard, but because the courts shut down,” Stumbo said.
He said they are working to cut those cases down, but they do not have the manpower to handle all of the cases. Newberry County currently has one full-time lawyer working the cases and one that splits his time with Laurens County.
“I am asking for a one-year position we can put on contract, for an experienced attorney that knows what they are doing in court and they can start working those cases,” Stumbo said. “We would not include benefits.”
Stumbo requested $70,000, which he said is about the market rate in South Carolina. Stumbo said after a year, they can reevaluate if the additional attorney is still needed to help with the caseload.
Charles Verner, public defender in Newberry County, made a similar request to hire an additional public defender for Newberry County.
Verner, on behalf of the public defender’s office, requested $100,000, including fringe benefits, over three years (making a total of $300,000) for another full-time public defender.
Verner is the only public defender in Newberry County and Newberry is the only county with one public defender.
“On estimate, I’m 60-85% of the defense of all cases in Newberry County,” he said.
The request would help with the caseload, as mentioned by Stumbo, in Newberry County.
Both Verner and Stumbo discussed using American Rescue Plan money for the requests.
In other business, Beth Folk, clerk of court, told council that starting July 1, land records would be on their website. She said people would be able to see the indexes starting from July 1983, but would be able to view the documents beginning in October 2003.
“We have a lot of documents now with social security numbers and birthdays, we do redact. The only thing not going to be on the website will be death certificates and power of attorney,” she said.
Other business:
• Council approved the third reading, and held a public hearing, to rezone 13.91 acres located on Mt. Tabor Road from RS-Single Family Residential to R2-Rural. The purpose of the rezoning is to allow for a manufactured home on the property. The landowner spoke and thanked council and staff for the work they’ve done during this process.
• Council approved the third reading, and held a public hearing, to rezone 1.49 acres located on Pender Ridge Road from RS-Single Family Residential to R2-Rural. The purpose of the rezoning is to allow mini-storage units on the property. No one spoke during the public hearing.
• Council approved the first reading of an ordinance to rezone 19.72 acres located on Macedonia Church Road from RS-Single Family Residential to R2-Rural. The purpose is to use a residential structure and a small hobby farm with chickens.
• Following executive session, council approved giving the economic development director and county administrator liberty to negotiate with Project Viking, in regard to discussions in executive session. They also gave the same liberty to the economic developer and county administrator for Project PB&J.