Partnership foundation offering support for capital sales tax
Greenwood Partnership Alliance’s board of directors was notified Wednesday of a vote of support coming from its Foundation for a Greater Greenwood County in providing $15,000 for capital projects sales tax marketing.
Greenwood County Council approved formally requesting the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce to facilitate the marketing on Tuesday for the 1-percent sales tax.
The marketing is geared toward advertising projects and meetings, and driving support for the tax likely being placed on next year’s November ballot.
The sales tax must be brought to voters by a referendum and will include a list of capital projects to be funded by the tax.
Board Chairman Jim Medford said the goal was to raise about $50,000 for marketing with the Piedmont Technical College Foundation also agreeing to provide $15,000.
“I think the money that’s being invested for this is going to pay huge dividends,” Ray Brooks, president of Piedmont Tech, said. “I think what we’ve got here is an opportunity to keep investing in our community.”
Medford said a capital projects sales tax could help fund the construction of a speculative building for the county, which eliminates risk for prospective companies by supplying what is essentially a move-in-ready building.
He said the county has a limited inventory for available industrial buildings and few companies are wanting to wait on building from the ground up.
“Obviously, timing in life is everything,” Medford said.
In the meantime, Heather Simmons Jones, chief executive officer for the Partnership, said the county can continue to push pre-permitted, shovel-ready sites, such as the North Industrial Park, which recently received site certification from the state Department of Commerce.
In other business:
— Greenwood Promise campaign chairman Jim Pfeiffer provided an update to the board on fundraising efforts, which includes more than $3.7 million raised since launching of its $5 million goal to fund the first phase of the scholarship endowment.
— The board approved transitioning Karen Long, who has been working in a part-time role as the Greenwood Promise campaign coordinator, into a full-time position for the Promise.
— Antonio Sequeira of Colombo Energy was approved as a board member and Thornwell Dunlap III as treasurer for the Foundation to fill the roles of Charles Schulze, who recently retired from Elliott Davis Decosimo.
— The Partnership is working to get the East Rail Park site, off Emerald Road, certified and will participate in the third step, which is engineering and surveying, according to Simmons Jones.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Nov 18, 2015
By COLIN RIDDLEcriddle@indexjournal.com