Society Hill raises millage
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Society Hill Town Council convened a special called meeting on Thursday, June 28 to hold a public hearing and final reading for the 2018/19 fiscal year budget, which falls just $1,700 short of being balanced.
The budget showed the town’s total annual revenue as $237,020, with $131,800 of that coming from intergovernmental revenue items. This includes about $47,000 from the Municipal Association of South Carolina tax collection program, which takes percentages of taxes on insurance, brokerage, and telecommunications businesses and distributes that money to municipal governments. Society Hill’s budget also includes an anticipated $50,000 of revenue from bonds and fines, $33,900 in franchise fees from Duke Energy, Cablevision, and SCE&G.
Society Hill’s expected expenditures total $238,720. This includes $107,300 for the Police Department (with $62,200 going toward salaries, $11,400 for health insurance, and $10,700 for retirement). All other town expenditures total $123,060, with the biggest costs going toward utilities ($31,000), salaries ($19,500) and accounting, payroll, and audit services ($14,150).
The budget includes a millage increase, raising rates from 63 mills to 66.23 mills, a change of 5.12 percent. Society Hill expects to collect $2,800 in property taxes in the coming fiscal year, and $5,700 through the homestead tax.
Mayor Tommy Bradshaw and Council members Tammy Gandy and Deborah Harrell all voted to approve the budget as presented. Council members Carolyn Oliver and Michelle Steen were not present at this meeting.
The new budgets are in effect from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.
Also at this meeting, Council approved an ordinance allowing Society Hill to issue business licenses to food trucks for operation within town limits. The ordinance states that trucks cannot operate within 150 feet of an eating establishment, and can only operate between 6 a.m. – midnight.