By Stan Welch
Pelzer Town Council gave first reading approval to the 2021-2022 budget as presented in the draft form in May. No changes were made, despite an apparently raucous public hearing on the proposed budget last week. The first reading vote was 3-2 with Council members Mike Matthews and Eddie Waits opposed. Mayor Will Ragland, Councilman Skip Highsmith and Councilwoman Alicia Tuttle voted to approve.
In the general fund the proposed revenues remain budgeted at $186,532; approximately five thousand dollars less than last fiscal year. That partly reflects an absence of rental income from the community building, which will be undergoing major renovations, and unavailable for use to the transfer of thirteen hundred dollars from the general fund for town activities to the hospitality tax fund.
General fund expenses, as presented, reflect two significant changes. The arrangement with the ACSO to provide off duty deputies to patrol the town will be reduced from seven eight hour shifts each week to five six hour shifts, if the proposed budget is adopted. That change will reduce the amount spent on patrol coverage by almost exactly twenty thousand dollars. According to Mayor Will Ragland, those funds will be used to give raises to town clerk Cheryl Boudreau and her part time assistant. That line item in the proposed budget goes up from $49,224 last year to $70,902. The increase includes the associated rise in benefits and insurance.
In the public works budget, revenues are anticipated to increase by just under ten thousand dollars, while revenues from the sewer department are expected to drop by almost twenty thousand dollars. The fee for trash pickup will increase to $8.50 a month. Ragland explained that the town’s residents had expressed a desire to have two special pickup days each year, when large objects could be disposed of. “This additional fifty cents a month will cover that additional cost.”
In the public works expenses salaries and benefits for the town’s three full time employees will rise from $77,297 ( for two employees last year) to $118,477 in the coming year, if the proposed budget is adopted. It was also announced that the fees for water and sewer taps on new construction will be $1300 and $1000, respectively. Tuesday night, the council voted unanimously to spend $26,500 to purchase a used bucket truck with money from the public works reserve fund.
The Council also voted four to one (Councilman Waits recused himself due to a vaguely possible conflict of interest) to purchase a piece of property at 6 Stewart Street; a property that has been the topic of numerous citizen complaints, according to Mayor Ragland. The owner of the property was unwilling to sell when first approached, apparently because she had tenants occupying the property. Ragland explained that those tenants have since vacated the property, adding that they had also been pirating water and sewer utilities from the town.
With the property vacant, said Ragland, the owner became interested in selling. The appraised price of $8300 was approved by Council. Ragland explained that the town would clear the property and clean it up, with the intention of selling it to someone in the future. Ragland was unable to answer Councilman Matthews’ question about the cost of the cleanup. Money from the pending sale of the cell tower property would fund the purchase.
A number of line items in the hospitality tax fund were unfunded; a situation partly explained by Ragland that several major transactions that are looming, such as the sale of the water and sewer systems, the sale of the cell tower property and the reception of more than a half million dollars in federal COVID relief could and would completely change things, and alter the budget. “The total of those potential transactions is over a million dollars, “said Ragland. “Obviously, that would be a total game changer.”
Mayor Ragland addressed the proposed purchase of a warning siren for the town, stating that the estimated cost would be in excess of $27,000. He advised delaying the issue while other approaches were explored, such as talking with the Pelzer Rescue Squad about their possible involvement. His suggestion prevailed as no one made a motion to proceed.
Williamston town councilman Lee Cole, acting as the current director of the Palmetto Soccer Club, appeared to give the town council an update on the Clubs efforts to meet the conditions of its lease for the ball fields during the financial crunch caused by COVID. “We had no seasons at all during 2020, and our finances reflected that. But we are keeping the fields cut, as we said we would. And now that the sewer issues at the concession stand have been resolved by the town, we will meet our obligation under the lease to upgrade and repair the concession stand.” He added that the seven and under group had played their spring season this year, and that a full schedule was anticipated for the fall season.
