Aiken County Council members and officials agreed on Tuesday to look at cutting the 2015-16 budget's general fund by about $1 million in an effort to keep from increasing property taxes.
Council Chairman Ronnie Young and members Andrew Siders, Camille Furgiuele and Kathy Rawls met this week, attempting to outline where, if any, cuts could be made in the $62.7 million budget's general fund. The four recommended a total fund cut by about $2.8 million, but agreed to leave most of the items for now after County Administrator Clay Killian made a case for each and cleared up questions regarding some of the funding amounts.
Several Council members, including Siders and Furgiuele, stated they would rather find ways to cut part of the budget than increase property taxes in the County.
In May, officials proposed a 2.4 millage rate increase to 72.3 miles from the current 69.9 mills, an increase that officials said could bring in roughly $1.5 million to $1.6 million in revenue per year. A millage is the rate at which property taxes are charged based on property value. The increase would mean a $4 cost for every mill on a $100,000 valued home, and if approved, a homeowner would pay an additional $14.40 on a home valued at $150,000, officials said.
On Tuesday, Council members agreed to strip about $30,000 from the $100,000 budget line item for the demolition of properties.
That item is primarily used to clean up properties and demolish abandoned homes. Council also agreed to completely do away with the budget line item designated for a public information officer; a position item that Killian requested Council transfer to the Human Resources Department so the department could hire a training specialist, making the department a "true" department instead of a department simply handling benefits and processing paperwork, he said.
Most of the proposed cuts Council members did agree to keep for the time being, items that included holiday pay for employees, overtime pay for the Sheriff's Office and gasoline and light equipment for code enforcement.
Council member Chuck Smith said he believed that $1 million in "extra" revenue, plus the additional nonrecurring $1.6 million the County expects to receive from the state out of a 2015-16 budget amendment, could help offset the County's expected $3 million deficit in the 2014-15 budget year.
"We've been beating our heads against the wall, trying to save (money)," Smith said. "Every question has pretty much been answered. We've got the revenue coming in, lets apply it."
The South Carolina Senate approved the amendment last month. That amendment is part of the Senate-approved $7 billion 2015-16 state budget that includes sending $4 million to the 22 counties affected by the February 2014 ice storm. Aiken County spent roughly $33.2 million in emergency and clean up costs after the 2014 ice storm, better known as Winter Storm Pax. The County only received federal reimbursement of about $26 million out of the expected $27 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.
In the work session, Council members, including Chairman Ronnie Young, again pointed fingers to the local government fund and questioned officials whether there was any possibility those funds would increase. The County spends about $18 million in operating expenses for state-mandated services, such as the Department of Social Services. The County, however, only collects about $8 million in revenue, leaving a $10 million net cost.
In March, the House passed Charleston Republican Rep. Jim Merrill's proposed bill, H. 3374, with the Aiken County Legislative Delegation's House member's backing, which would replace the initial formula for the local government fund, and local governments would receive an amount equal to the percentage increase in the state's general budget, capped at 5 percent. That funding would be based on budget projections, rather than the previous year's budget.
When the local government fund was initially conceived in 1991, the law required state lawmakers to provide 4.5 percent of the completed fiscal year's general fund revenue to be allocated into the fund for cities and counties. But since the recession hit in 2008, the law was suspended, causing many local governments, including Aiken County, to find funding elsewhere.
That means that Aiken County will receive $2.15 million less than required by law, even though state revenues have increased by more than $400 million, plus an additional $150 million in potential surplus revenue, Killian said in a previous work session. "To put that in perspective, the lower local government fund amount, coupled with the smaller amount for ice storm cost reimbursement, is approximately 6.3 mills of tax in Aiken County."
"These numbers that should have come from the state have put us in this position," Young said in a prepared statement. "I do not believe the General Assembly understands that we have nowhere to pass along these shortfalls, but to the citizens of Aiken County. I do not believe the General Assembly understands local government responsibility. I can only assume that most of legislators have not spent time at this level and apparently have no clue."
Council member Chuck Smith agreed, stating it's time for the General Assembly to "live up to (its) obligations," and Aiken's "Delegation needs to go up there and fight for it."
The 2015-16 operating budget still has to go through two more readings and a public hearing before Council can give its final approval. Council is expected to hold the second reading at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 16.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. An Atlanta native, she has a mass communications-journalism degree with the University of North Carolina Asheville. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.