NEWBERRY — Newberry Electric Cooperative has elected to give Newberry County its Utility Tax Credit for this year in the amount of $135,731 for the clearing and grading project at the Mid-Carolina Commerce Park.
Rick Farmer, director of Economic Development, said the project will involve removing trees off two 15-acre sites, grading the land and making the site ready for development when a company comes in.
“One of the great pleasures that we have is to come before Council to do something good for the residents of Newberry County,” said Keith Avery, CEO of Newberry Electric Cooperative. “As you know, each year the Board of Directors at Newberry Electric Cooperative has the option of what to do with the utility tax credit and this year they have voted to extend those monies to the county to be able to be used for economic development.”
Councilman Henry Livingston said Newberry Electric Cooperative does a lot of good for the county year round, but this contribution was just icing on the cake.
In other business, council approved two second readings, the first for the Capital Project Sales Tax ordinance and the second being zoning ordinance changes. The CPST ordinance would impose a one percent sales tax, subject to referendum, within Newberry County.
This ordinance authorizes placement on the November 2016 general election ballot a referendum on the question of continuing the same one-cent sales tax that the voters of Newberry County first approved in 1998.
The second ordinance would revise the County’s zoning ordinance. General goals of the rewrite were to simplify and streamline regulations, making them easier to read and administer; create more flexibility to establish and operate businesses in the County’s predominant zoning district, R-2 Rural, without negatively impacting residential and agricultural uses; and respond effectively to legal, practical and technological changes that have occurred since 2001, when the current zoning ordinances were adopted.
Other business
• Council held a public hearing and final reading on an ordinance authorizing the execution of an equipment lease-purchase agreement in an amount not exceeding $710,000 relating to the purchase of certain equipment by Newberry County.