Greenwood County CPST set to collect near 100% of goal
Greenwood County received more than $3 million in three months, one penny at a time.
The Capital Project Sales Tax, a 1% sales tax passed by voters in 2016, had its highest quarterly earnings since the tax started, CPST Coordinator Josh Skinner said at Tuesday’s County Council meeting. In December, January and February, the tax brought in more than $3 million, hitting a total of more than $47 million collected to date.
Skinner said County Treasurer Steffanie Dorn projects the tax will bring in all the money it needs to fund each project the county’s voters approved in 2016.
“Steffanie is confident that we’re going to get nearly 100% by 2025, which will fund all 27 projects almost completely,” Skinner said. “This is great news. Things are going well.”
The news of a near-100% collection comes nearly three years after concerns of a potential $20 million shortfall. In 2020 that predicted deficit shrank to about $10 million, based on an unlikely projection of no increase in collections for the remaining term of the tax.
At a previous meeting, Dorn said this past quarter’s collections were a record high, in part because of holiday spending. Funds from that quarter will go toward design and construction of the new Wilbanks Sports Complex at 1552 Highway 72/221 E.
Skinner told council that crews broke ground on the upgrades to the Hodges town park, and efforts to clean up the former wastewater treatment plant on the site of the Grace Street Park expansion are going well.
Updates to the Ninety Six town park are about 60% through the design process, he said, as is the design of a stormwater drain that will run through the park and toward the mill village. Gravel and asphalt are expected in the next few weeks for the boat ramp being built near the bridge over Lake Greenwood on Highway 72/221, Skinner said.
County officials are working with the state Department of Transportation on the contract for the Highway 246 expansion. Once work on the last of the county fire stations is finished, likely by late summer or early fall, more than 99% of the county’s homes will be within five minutes of a fire station.
Next quarter’s CPST check comes in July, and that along with part of October’s quarterly check will go toward funding the Wilbanks project. The rest of October’s check will go toward building a training center for first responders.
“I wish that every taxpayer in Greenwood County could see that presentation,” said Council Vice Chairperson Theo Lane, who led the meeting Tuesday in Chairperson Chuck Moates’ absence. “I concur with the treasurer. I think her forecast that we will fund it 100%.”
Council approved second reading of a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement known as Project River. The incentive agreement would bring a Minnesota-based company to Greenwood, with the company spending nearly $38 million to bring its business to the area. The company, which expects to create 300 jobs, is set to be identified at the public hearing for this FILOT agreement on May 17.
Dorn shared more good news with council. She requested their vote on two resolutions: one to spend money that’s set to be reimbursed by a state grant on equipment for 10 new school resource officers, and another to spend surplus funds on a slate of capital needs for various departments.
Dorn said the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office, working with Greenwood County School District 50, secured a grant to fund 10 school resource officer positions.
The details are ironed out and the county is set to be reimbursed, but she said council needed to approve a budget amendment to spend a total of about $498,000 from the general fund to purchase vehicles, radios, Tasers and vehicle radios for the 10 officers. Dorn said the county will be reimbursed through the grant.
The other resolution was to spend excess funds in the budgets of various departments, a total of about $144,000 in surplus, on capital needs. Some of these include cellular dialers for fire and burglar alarms, a vehicle service lift, a slope mower and copier for the lake management department, and roll-off truck and half-ton pickup truck.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:May 4, 2022
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com
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