City, County tout stability, moves toward beautification
Greenwood Mayor Welborn Adams freely admits that sometimes when he speaks at the State of the City and County he suffers from a lack of enthusiasm based on the quality of news he delivers.
Not minutes later, Adams left no doubt of his enthusiasm for his 2014 State of the City and County speech. Pointing to an enlarged graph of the plummeting violent crime rate led to raucous applause and a whoop of joy from Adams.
?We are at an all-time low (in violent crime) for the last 15 years,? Adams said. ?I?m very proud of that. You may not realize this but South Carolina is kind of a violent place, we?re the fourth-most violent state in America. Along with this (Powerpoint) slide there was a slide with the 15 most-violent cities in South Carolina and you won?t find Greenwood in that list.?
Adams repeatedly praised the efforts of the Greenwood Police Department and Police Chief Gerald Brooks.
Greenwood County Council Chairman Mark Allison, likewise, began his speech touting the efforts of the county to get basic, foundational tasks right. The ongoing effort to reform the county?s policy and procedures, while unlikely to cause a stir in the community, are vital to providing the level of service residents expect, Allison said.
Allison also touted the county?s financial situation. The use of leftover capital projects sales tax funds to remove the county?s bonded indebtedness have led to positive trickle-down effects.
?Last year, the county landfill cost the taxpayers about $133,000 to $140,000,? Allison said. ?This year we?re projecting a $1 million surplus.?
Both Adams and Allison said that getting the basics of security and finance will lead to future gains in other areas.
?Crime affects every citizen,? Adams said. ?Once you get that at least under control, you can start working on other things that will bring more benefits. So when (we) improve things in the Uptown, that?ll attract people, those people will pay for more police officers. And that helps everyone.?
One of the largest upgrades is the Uptown Farmers Market and splash pad that Greenwood City Manager Charlie Barrineau said should be completed by June.
During a question-and-answer period, County Manager Toby Chappell said the county has begun to explore the possibility of a hospitality tax to fund further beautification efforts.
?When you eat prepared food anywhere in the city, you?re paying hospitality tax,? Allison said. ?When you eat in the county, you?re not. So that?s ? according to the study we had done ? about $381,000 we?re leaving on the table.?
Allison said hospitality tax funds would help execute the goals of a proposed master plan for Lake Greenwood to further attract tourists and retain residents. Using the hospitality tax would further that goal, Chappell said.
?Charlie (Barrineau) and I talked about that,? Chappell said. ?One of the keys of the master plan has to be how do you make the circle work from people coming and staying in the city and going to the lake to recreate and then coming back to the city to eat and sleep and back to the lake. We?ve got to make sure that circle works better and I think the (Highway) 72 beautification is part of that.?
But beautification and master plans only work in a safe, fiscally stable environments, Adams said.
?We want to go through a lot of other things that we?ve got going on in the city: we?ve got shopping, we?ve got new stores, we?ve got festivals, we?ve got a lot of stuff going on but none of that matters if you aren?t safe.?
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Aug 27, 2014
By FRANK BUMB fbumb@indexjournal.com