Cities, towns must file audits to get their state funds from treasurer

By: Morning News | SCNow
Published: February 19, 2009

It seems pretty basic.

Towns and cities in South Carolina are being required by the South Carolina State Treasurer’s office until their annual audits have been submitted.

And until they do so, the office won’t send them their state government payments.

But nearly 20 municipalities, including Olanta, Andrews, Lynchburg, Quinby and Sellers, are on the list.

And it’s not just small towns that are having problems.

The city of Columbia is way behind, as well.

“When they submit their audit, we’ll release that money,” treasurer’s spokesman Scott Malyerck told the News & Post of Lake City about Olanta.

Starting Feb. 1, Treasurer Converse Chellis has been able to withhold the quarterly payments through a measure approved by the Legislature last year, The Associated Press reported.

State payments to cities range from $300 to $888,000 a quarter, while counties receive $153,000 to $4.2 million quarterly, according to the AP.

Olanta is working to get things back on schedule.

And we understand their challenge as well as other small towns.

First, it’s certainly a good thing that the law was changed to give the treasurer the authority to do this.

Without a “stick” like this to hold over town officials, all sorts of problems were occurring. It’s part of the reason some of these towns are in the trouble they are in now.

The most basic question is is taxpayer money being collected and spent appropriately.

That’s certainly a minimum expectation for town officials to meet.

And to have it done on time is another basic expectation and to then be public about it as well with a report to the town’s residents.

Another issue facing many of these small towns is the lack of expertise on the part of town government employees as well as those on town councils.

And as these communities lose tax base to fund their governments another question they and the voters should be asking is whether the town should be incorporated and residents taxed to pay for services.

There is a lot of local pride in these towns and communities. And for some, they offer added police protection and zoning laws where counties had been reluctant to act.

But as these audits bring financial issues into focus, it would behoove some to put the issue on the front burner.

Should we continue to operate as a city government, and if so, what services can we afford?

ON THE WEB
For an update on who has or hasn’t filed you can go to www.treasurer.sc.gov.