Society Hill council gives initial OK to a bigger budget
By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
As Mayor Tommy Bradshaw pronounced Society Hill “in good shape” financially, Town Council last week gave preliminary approval to a $247,000 budget for next fiscal year.
The budget is about $10,000 more than the town of about 500 people had to work with during the current fiscal year, Bradshaw said. The budget plan gives the town’s handful of employees raises of 7 percent to 10 percent; Bradshaw said town employees have not had a pay raise in years.
With two of council’s five members absent, barely giving council a quorum, the remaining three members on May 14 approved the budget ordinance on first reading. A second and final reading is expected at next month’s council meeting.
The new budget does not require any millage increase, Bradshaw said. He said the town expects to benefit from permitting fees as CareSouth Carolina begins renovating the old St. David’s Academy property into an office building.
In other business, council learned that even though a sudden storm disrupted the town’s annual Taste of Society Hill event on May 4, the evening wasn’t a total loss.
The event, a fundraiser for the Long Bluff Historical Society, was forced inside by the storm, said society president Melissa Burch.
Tents had been set up outside for vendors, and two tents were blown away during the storm, she said. About half the vendors at the event stayed, she said.
Burch said everyone at the Taste of Society Hill “pulled together” to keep the event going in spite of the weather. No one was charged an admission fee because of the storm. She said the Historical Society broke even on the event.
