County approves capital sales tax commission, selects reps
Greenwood County Council created a capital projects sales tax commission and appointed its first three members Tuesday.
Ruth LaForge, retired community development director with Upper Savannah Council of Governments; Steve Coleman, Project Genesis director at Piedmont Technical College; and David Tompkins, senior vice president and Greenwood market executive at Countybank, were approved to represent the county on the committee.
Greenwood City Council will appoint two people to represent the city on the committee. Those two members will select a final member, which must come from Ninety Six or Ware Shoals, one of the unrepresented municipalities.
“We looked at multiple people for the many roles this project will take on,” County Manager Toby Chappell said. “I think it’s important that you have people in the community that have credibility; it’s important to have people with expertise.”
The commission will be charged with vetting potential capital projects that could be funded by the tax, also known as a penny tax, which is a 1-percent sales tax for the county
Voters must approve the tax at a referendum before it is implemented. The referendum must include a list of projects, which will be formed by the commission. The city expects the referendum to appear on the 2016 ballot.
Chappell said the county will have five committees that will review projects for public safety, quality of life, parks and recreation, economic development and infrastructure.
The committees will select projects that the five committee chairs will review as a whole before making recommendations to the commission.
Chappell said this organization comes from Sumter County’s two successful capital projects sales tax.
County Council also approved the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce to handle all the marketing for the project, including setting up meetings and projects requests.
Chappell said the county is not allowed to spend money influencing an election
“That’s why it is important to have a separate entity designated for marketing,” Chappell said.
The county successfully passed a capital sales tax in 2006, which took effect in fiscal year 2008, and eventually raised about $43 million in less than six years. Each year ranged from about $8 million to about $8.6 million. A capital sales tax can be implemented for up to eight years and seven years if reimposed.
The county has a fund balance of about $21 million, which can be used for any updates needed for the Buzzard Roost dam determined from the recent findings of a hydrology study.
The county used about $9.4 million to build the new library off Main Street. About $12 million was used to pay off the county’s remaining debt after savings from the first phase of work on the dam, which required just more than $1 million.
Chappell said the county is still working on estimates with the state Department of Revenue for what the new tax will raise annually.
In other business:
— County Council approved adjusting the county fire fee for commercial properties, putting the max at $1,091 for those properties, which had previously been $350 before being increased to $4,000 under a new schedule meant to help raise more revenue for the fire service. The adjustment affects about 75 taxpayers, who expressed concern over the new fee. A full schedule of the fire fee and 2016 budget can be found on the county’s website: greenwoodsc.gov.
— Council approved the Lake Greenwood Master Plan.
— Chappell told Council state expects a $1.2 billion surplus in next year’s budget, while noting the state owes the county $1 million from the county’s underfunded appropriation from the state’s local government fund.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Nov 18, 2015
By COLIN RIDDLE criddle@indexjournal.com