April 7, 2014

At last week’s meeting, County Council took up first reading of the $9 million annual budget. We have worked to trim the budget, find money-saving alternatives to some work, fit in needed work, and saved money along the way.

Let’s look at some specifics that might interest you.

First, the Council is working on a budget that does not raise taxes for the fourth year in a row. To remind you of what that looks like over the past 20 years, here’s a chart. To look at how much you pay in Edgefield County taxes and fees (I included taxes and fees so you’d get a more complete picture), I want to show how much a person would pay in taxes and fees on a $100,000 house.

As you can see, we continue to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

In this budget, we are proposing several important things:

·         A 1.5% pay raise for employees

·         We’re counting on our Reserve Funds – our rainy day fund – less than we did last year to balance the budget. In addition, if we spend every penny proposed in this budget, and if we spent $300,000 on building the animal shelter, that would still leave more than 3 months of money in reserves.

·         We bring several Department Heads/Other Elected Officials salaries in line with the state’s averages for those positions.

·         We included funds needed to replace computers, perform needed repairs on county buildings, and are putting aside money for a retrial on a capital murder case.

There’s a lot more to the budget, of course. I encourage you to go to the Edgefield County Government website and review the budget for yourself.

As always, County Council wants your input on the budget. I look forward to hearing from you!

Until next time,