NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

MINUTES

MAY 2, 2007

Newberry County Council met on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at the Courthouse Annex for a regular meeting.

Present were: Henry B. Summer, Chairman

William D. Waldrop, Vice-Chairman

John E. Caldwell, Councilman

John David Dawkins, Councilman

Mike Hawkins, Councilman

Edgar Baker, Councilman

Henry H. Livingston, III, Councilman (arrived at 7:05 p.m.)

Wayne Adams, County Administrator

Gary T. Pope, County Attorney

Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council

Debbie S. Cromer, Finance Director

Media: Heather Hawkins, WKDK

Cindy Pitts, Newberry Observer

Notice of the meeting was duly advertised as required by law.

Mr. Summer called the meeting to order and determined a quorum to be present.

Mr. Adams had the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Personal Appearances:

1. Request for restoration of funds to Health Department’s budget. Representatives from the Health Department appeared before Council at its budget work session on May 1, 2007. Accordingly, this item was deleted from the agenda.

Adoption of Consent Agenda.

Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt the consent agenda; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous. (Councilman Livingston absent).

Additions, deletions and adoption of Agenda.

Mr. Dawkins moved to add to the agenda as item #13 consideration of a referendum concerning video poker to replace property taxes and add as item #12(c) third reading to the ordinance to increase homestead exemption to $75,000 for tax year 2006 for county operating and county ordinary; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous. (Councilman Livingston absent).

There being no further additions or deletions, Mr. Hawkins moved to adopt the agenda as amended; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous. (Councilman Livingston absent).

2. Ordinance #01-09-07: An Ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of a General Obligation Bond, Series 2007, or such other appropriate series designation, of Newberry County, South Carolina, in the principal amount of not exceeding $1,700,000; fixing the form and details of the bond; authorizing the County Administrator or his lawfully authorized designee to determine certain matters relating to the Bond; providing for the payment of the Bond and the disposition of the proceeds thereof; and other matters relating thereto.

Mr. Dawkins moved for third reading; second by Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Dawkins stated Council was not committing at this time what was going to be done to the Sheriff’s Office building but the money would be available if Council decided to make the repairs.

Mr. Pope pointed out a typographical error in Exhibit “B”, which has been corrected by the Clerk to Council.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous. (Councilman Livingston absent).

3. Ordinance #04-13-07: An Ordinance to provide appropriations for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2007 and ending June 30, 2008 for the Newberry County Library, Piedmont Technical College and the Newberry Agency for the Developmentally Disabled; to provide for the levy of taxes on all personal and real estate properties in Newberry County for said purposes; to provide for the expenditure of said taxes and other revenues coming to the County during said fiscal year for said purposes.

Mr. Hawkins moved to go ahead and put the money in for Piedmont Technical College to assist with the renovations for the veterinary technician program and if we don’t find the money to fund it, we could take it out; second by Mr. Waldrop.

Mr. Adams asked if for the time being that money could be taken from Council contingency to reduce the expenditure. Council agreed.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous.

Mr. Hawkins moved for second reading as amended; second by Mr. Waldrop. Vote was unanimous.

4. Ordinance #04-14-07: An Ordinance to provide appropriations for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2007 and ending June 30, 2008 for the Newberry County budget for County Ordinary purposes and for other County purposes for which the County may levy a tax and receive revenues; to provide for the levy of taxes on all taxable personal and real property in Newberry County for all County purposes, including sufficient tax to pay the principal and interest on outstanding indebtedness of Newberry County payable during said fiscal year; to provide for matters relating to Newberry County; and to provide for the expenditure of said taxes and other revenues coming to the County during said fiscal year, and to provide for borrowing in anticipation of tax collections by the issuance of one or more Tax Anticipation Notes.

Mr. Dawkins moved to increase the tipping fee by $3.00 per ton; second by Mr. Livingston. Vote was unanimous.

Mr. Dawkins moved to take out the $100,000 for the Board of Rural Fire Control and the Board of Rescue Squads for physicals and replace it with a proviso that mandatory physicals will take place July 1, 2009; second by Mr. Waldrop.

Mr. Hawkins moved to amend the motion to provide that existing members would start physicals on July 1, 2009, but new members start physicals July 1, 2008, which would not affect this year’s budget; second by Mr. Livingston.

Mr. Livingston requested that this be bid out to physicians to see if any would be willing to give a group rate or a reduced rate.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question on the amendment to the amendment. Vote was unanimous.

Mr. Summer called for the question on the initial amendment as amended. Vote was unanimous.

Mr. Dawkins requested that the lease/purchase be looked at on recurring items such as EMS ambulances.

Mr. Baker moved for second reading as amended; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

5. Ordinance #05-15-07: An Ordinance amending the Road Ordinance, as codified, so as to amend provisions relating to the dedication period, to clarify certain policy statements, to clarify Council’s right to discontinue or abandon roads under all available statutory procedures and to require that new roads accepted into the county system be paved, with certain limited exceptions, and other related matters.

Mr. Waldrop moved for first reading; second by Mr. Dawkins.

Mr. Waldrop stated the Road Committee recommends this amendment.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous.

6. Ordinance #05-16-07: An Ordinance amending Chapter 30 of the Newberry County Code of Ordinances relating to the issuance of the Ordinance Summons books and the training and commissioning of Code Enforcement Officers.

Mr. Waldrop moved for first reading; second by Mr. Hawkins. Vote was unanimous.

7. Ordinance #05-17-07: An Ordinance to amend the Official Zoning Map established pursuant to Zoning Ordinance #12-24-01 so as to rezone a tract containing approximately 2 acres, designated as TMS Parcel No. 359-11, from Rural (R-2) to General Commercial (GC).

Mr. Dawkins moved for first reading; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

8. Resolution #10-07: A Resolution authorizing the acceptance of the extension of Outback Drive into the Newberry County Public Road System.

Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt the Resolution; second by Mr. Waldrop.

Mr. Dawkins advised this is a gravel road with a 66 foot right of way and is an extension of a subdivision. The developer is going to pave the road. The road will not go into the county system until the developer puts up $150,000, which is the cost of paving, and the road must be paved no later than October 31, 2008. After it is paved, the developer will put up a bond for an additional two years warranty period.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous.

9. Committee Reports.

No reports.

10. Appointments.

Mr. Livingston recommended the appointment of Bobby Lominick to the Fairgrounds Commission.

There being no further nominations, Mr. Hawkins moved to accept the nomination; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

11. Awarding of bid for Airport Runway Construction.

Carroll Triplett with W.K. Dickson recommended the acceptance of the low bid from Cox & Floyd Grading, Inc. in the amount of $1,462,766. The county would be responsible for 2.5% of this amount, or $36,569.15.

Mr. Baker moved to accept the bid from Cox & Floyd Grading, Inc.; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

12. Discussion of recommendation of County Finance Officers and County Administration regarding the following:

(a) Lifting of freeze on employee merit raises.

Mr. Adams passed out information relating to the cash position which justified the ability of the County to fund $1.4 million in tax refunds to the taxpayers of owner-occupied residences in Newberry County and $80,000 to provide merit raises for the last two months of this fiscal year. The raises have been delayed since January. The decision making tool on whether the County can afford to do this is a computation of our projected cash position at the end of this fiscal year. We need 3 ½ months operating expenses on June 30 for the successive fiscal year and project the cash position at $5,958,234, which is within $1,000 of what we projected in the budget transmittal documents. Mr. Adams felt the County at this time was in a position to provide the tax relief and the merit raises.

Mr. Summer requested confirmation that these raises did not include anything for County Council. Mr. Adams advised it did not.

Mr. Livingston moved to lift the freeze; second by Mr. Baker.

Mr. Hawkins stated merit implied persons had been evaluated by their department head and recommended. Mr. Adams said that was correct, and they were evaluated last November and December.

Mr. Hawkins said County Council would not be getting any money from this, but what about the other elected officials. Mr. Adams stated the other elected officials are projected at a 4% cost of living adjustment. The Probate Judge’s and Magistrates’ raises are set by Court Administration and generally they get the higher of the two, whether it is the State recommended COLA or whatever the County is doing at the local level.

Mr. Hawkins said merit raises sounds like front line employees, not the elected officials and felt the word “merit” should be stricken if other people besides those evaluated were given increases.

Mr. Summer stated if you don’t give a full time employee, who is an elected official, a raise periodically, that person’s salary stays frozen and people underneath that elected official’s salary keep going up. You have somebody that has a lot more responsibility but they don’t have that much extra money than some of the subordinates, and they have all the expenses of running for office as well as the extra responsibility. As time goes on and elected officials aren’t given the raises like other full time employees, the salary structure gets distorted.

Mr. Hawkins moved to strike the word “merit;” second by Mr. Dawkins.

Mr. Waldrop questioned whether this should be done. Mr. Hawkins said it was misleading because you had people getting raises who had not been evaluated. Merit implies that you have been evaluated and recommended for this increase.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question on the amendment to strike the word “merit.” Voting for the motion: Councilmen Hawkins, Dawkins and Baker. Voting against the motion: Councilmen Summer, Waldrop, Caldwell, and Livingston. Motion failed.

Mr. Livingston stated the merit increases had been postponed for January, February, March and April, which has been a pretty significant savings to the County. It is not fair for the employees to be punished because of poor management of funds.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer then called for the question on the main motion to lift the freeze on the merit raises. Vote was unanimous.

(b) Ability to provide tax refunds for owner-occupied dwellings.

(c) Homestead exemption.

Mr. Livingston moved to provide the tax refunds; second by Mr. Baker.

Mr. Waldrop asked if this was to reimburse what the State cut. Mr. Adams stated (b) actually addressed raising the homestead exemption by $25,000 for county operating and restoring a legal residency credit which amounts to 36.5 mills which was lost because there was more value to apply a fixed amount of credit to. The State froze the amount of credit so as some properties went up in value between whatever amount and $100,000, there was more value eligible to the credit. People got about $146 less on a $100,000 home.

Mr. Summer stated it was because of the increase in value and not necessarily the reassessment. If somebody built more houses during the year, it could have been because we had more houses.

Mr. Adams asked if Council could approve this in principle and ratify it on May 16, 2007.

Mr. Waldrop moved to approve in principle and ratify on May 16, 2007; second by Mr. Hawkins.

Under discussion, Mr. Dawkins moved to amend to include County Ordinary taxes, Special Education and County Bonded Indebtedness in the $25,000 homestead exemption; second by Mr. Hawkins. Vote was unanimous.

Mr. Summer called for the question on the motion as amended. Vote was unanimous.

13. A resolution to put the video poker referendum to reduce property taxes on the ballot in November.

Mr. Dawkins stated Council was approached several meetings ago that a petition had been circulated around the County that asks for video poker to be legalized to replace property taxes in Newberry County. Several of us have looked at the petitions and counted over 2,000 signatures.

Mr. Dawkins moved to adopt a resolution to put on the November ballot a referendum for the people to vote whether or not they would like to see us legalize video poker to replace property taxes in Newberry County; second by Mr. Waldrop.

Mr. Baker asked if it was legal. Mr. Pope advised it was totally and absolutely illegal.

Mr. Dawkins didn’t know of any law and thought County Council could put any referendum on any ballot. Mr. Pope advised they could not put on anything affecting taxes and the taxing system of the State on a local level.

Mr. Dawkins stated this is a referendum asking the people would they like to see video poker. We are not changing anything. We are asking the people if this is what they would like to see.

Mr. Pope advised the Supreme Court says it is improper.

Mr. Baker stated you are asking the people if they want to do something illegal.

Mr. Dawkins said no. He was not in any way supporting video poker but he wants to see the people speak. If 4,000 people took the time to put their name, address and telephone number on a petition stating they would like to see County Council look into it, he wanted to see it on the ballot in November and let the people speak and see what they want. He is willing to listen to the people. We have a motion and a second.

Mr. Caldwell stated the count didn’t go to 4,000; it went to 2,100. It was stated previously that they had 5,000 signatures. He agreed with Mr. Pope. We did what we were challenged to do. We counted them, and there were about 2,100, but it wasn’t near close to 5,000.

Mr. Hawkins was not sure this was the image we want for our County. If it were legal, he would say yes, let the people speak. Most of those people would have signed anything you put in front of them that would promise a reduction in property taxes. It is tough to say you don’t want the people to speak, but you also don’t want them to build up false hope and have them think they are going to get something they are not going to get and run into a bunch of legal battles.

Mr. Dawkins felt this would get the State House’s attention and that other counties would follow suit.

Mr. Waldrop said it was wrong but it is not right for Las Vegas and New Jersey to be able to do it. Florida can have horse racing and dog racing, and we can’t do anything in South Carolina to raise money except property taxes. The only other option is sales tax.

Mr. Summer said we already have an election in November on the sales tax. This will add one more item, which won’t cost anything extra, except for one more question on the ballot. We have a lot of people in this county hurting very badly because of property tax. This is a way to let the voters say we don’t want property taxes; we would rather have video poker. Mr. Summer didn’t know if it was legal; he didn’t know if it is not legal, but if the people vote for it, then somebody will have to figure out whether or not it is legal. Somebody else will have to figure out if other counties want to follow suit. We are not saying it is legal; we are not saying it is not legal. What we are saying is we have a lot of people that want to vote on it, and we already having a special election to vote. What is wrong with having one more item on the agenda. We want to listen to the people.

Mr. Pope asked for a point of order. Under the statute you are supposed to have 15% of the electors of the county certified by the Election Board unless Council wants to do it by its own ordinance. Mr. Summer said Council was doing it by its own ordinance.

Mr. Pope advised that if Council were going to have a resolution, they needed to state the exact question as to how it is to be on the ballot. Mr. Summer asked how the petition read.

Mr. Hawkins asked if this would hurt getting the penny sales tax passed for the county and would not want to do something that would cause that not to pass.

Mr. Summer said the petition says: “Replace all property taxes with fees collected by Newberry County from the newly legalized video poker machines authorized to operate throughout Newberry County.”

Mr. Livingston said statistically we are talking about trying to help the lower socioeconomic population, which is a large part that then turns around and statistically shows they gamble. We are taking away from this in a volunteer basis versus a tax basis if we do this. We are taking a risk of doing something that is totally illegal.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Voting for the motion: Councilmen Dawkins, Waldrop and Summer. Voting against the motion: Councilmen Hawkins, Caldwell, Livingston and Baker. Motion failed.

Requests for Councilmen.

Mr. Baker requested that the County Administrator find out the status of Maybinton.

Mr. Waldrop asked if the Helena project was ready to go. Mr. Pope advised that was his understanding. The deed has been recorded, and the home and mobile home on the property have been removed.

Public Comments.

Terry Cotney thanked Council for the emergency services and their fast response.

Executive Session.

Mr. Hawkins moved to go into Executive Session to discuss an economic development matter; second by Mr. Dawkins. Vote was unanimous.

[EXECUTIVE SESSION 8:10 P.M. – 9:05 P.M.]

Mr. Baker moved to return to open session; second by Mr. Hawkins. Vote was unanimous.

Take any necessary action on matters discussed in Executive Session.

Mr. Dawkins moved to name the Highway 773 and I-26 park the Prosperity Point Commerce Park; second by Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Baker asked since it was setting across from Mid-Carolina Country Club, why not name it Mid-Carolina Commercial Park.

Mr. Summer said prosperity to a lot of people doesn’t mean a town. It means something good happening to your community. It has positive connotations.

There being no further discussion, Mr. Summer called for the question. Vote was unanimous.

Comments from County Administrator.

Mr. Adams advised he would be meeting with the Citizens Advisory Subcommittee on the budget on Tuesday, May 8, at 6:00 p.m.

Comments from Council Members.

No comments.

Adjournment.

Mr. Waldrop moved to adjourn; second by Mr. Baker. Vote was unanimous.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m.

NEWBERRY COUNTY COUNCIL

_______________________________________

Henry B. Summer, Chairman

_______________________________________

Susan C. Fellers, Clerk to Council

APPROVED: May 16, 2007