Florence City Council votes to raise taxes, fund improvements
FLORENCE — Florence City Council voted during a special meeting Monday afternoon to impose a 4-mill millage increase beginning in fiscal year 2010-2011.
Council also adopted a resolution to issue general obligation bonds to defray the cost of certain general fund capital improvements.
Council intends to issue the bonds to defray the cost of capital improvements in the fiscal year that began July 1.
Among the improvements and estimated costs are construction of a fire station and acquisition of related apparatus and equipment, $1,600,000; construction assistance for the Florence Area Humane Society no-kill animal shelter, $250,000; Levy Park improvements, $290,000; Iola Jones Park improvements, $540,000; downtown parking, $540,000; downtown streetscapes, $1,225,000; replacement of four sanitation trucks, $850,000; and capital expenses related to housing development and property acquisitions, $400,000.
“We will come back to council at the October meeting with an amended budget that basically outlines what things are increasing or decreasing,” Florence City Manager David Williams said. “We still have a balanced budget, but will be shifting some things around.
“It will take two readings to be adopted. Today was an informal step directing us to prepare that budget amendment.”
Williams said he won’t know the total until “we look at things in detail.”
“It will be spelled out in dollars when we do the budget ordinance, but we haven’t even started preparing that yet,” he said. “The total will remain pretty much the same. We will just be moving monies around inside the budget.”
Council passed a $22,230,000 general fund budget in June.
“There will most likely be a 4-mill increase next year, which means taxpayers won’t seen an additional tax until the fall of 2010,” Williams said. “By putting in place the millage increase, Council will be able to borrow money with bonds. Four mills is an estimate of what we think it would cost to do these capital improvements.”
Councilman Ed Robinson voted against the millage increase. He said he couldn’t see imposing debt on the citizens because it would most adversely affect the “low-income folk.”
“We are going in the wrong direction,” he said. “Are we going to build an animal shelter before we deal with our own kids? This is wrong. You are just taking everything from us and I’m going to fight you with all I’ve got.
“We ain’t crazy, y’all,” he said. “We are getting robbed. What are we getting out of this. We’re losing our children every day. They have no place to go and nothing to do, yet we want to hire 18 additional police officers.
“This is not right. It is ungodly to do what Council is doing. We are suffering and nobody cares.”
Councilwoman Octavia Williams-Blake informed Robinson that many of the proposed improvements are being made in his and councilman Billy D. Williams’ districts.
“They are in the area were the most affluent live in districts 1 and 2,” Robinson countered.
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Reader Reactions
Frankly I am VERY puzzled by scarecrow’s response. Not only did it make little to no coherent sense (love the use of the brackets, by the way), it was also littered with heresy backed up with zero actual facts.
FACT: SC has nearly 4 times as many Registered Sex Offenders per 1 million people as Massachusetts.
FACT: South Carolina is the 9th worst state for Registered Sex Offenders per capita.
FACT: Massachusetts is ranked 4th BEST state for RSOs per capita.
FALSE: Massachusetts = “Pedofile Heaven” (FYI, it’s spelled pedophile)
Mr. Scarecrow, just because you say something does not make it the truth. And your portion pointed towards SCNOW was indecipherable at best.
If you dispute my claims, here is an actual reference:
http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/12112382?limit_modifier=all&graph;[limit]=51&commit;=>
Don’t worry, it’s got bar graphs.
Frankly i am puzzled by [dewstain]s comments. If he prefers to live in wonderful [pedofile heaven]Mass.,and feels safer there, wishes to grow old there, what the he*l is he doing in SC? To you SCNOW, the original words used have been published MANY times on this site. Is it because the deviates are above reproach you struck them?
Finally! A new shelter! I volunteer at the shelter. It is desperatley needed. The initial groundbreaking was held February of 2007. We’ve been struggling to get funding from the city for SO LONG! Also, Mr. Robinson, the new shelter will be a great place for kids to go - they can visit the animals. Help walk the dogs. Pet the cats. Learn respect for the animals, themselves and others.
Robinson writes:
“We are going in the wrong direction,” he said. “Are we going to build an animal shelter before we deal with our own kids? This is wrong. You are just taking everything from us and I’m going to fight you with all I’ve got.
Yes ... we are going to build an animal shelter.
Let the parents take care of these kids! I’ve said this before ... it is not the City’s responsibilities to take care of these kids.
I hear you dewstain. I am a Florence Native and unfortunately over the years we have become what I call Little Chicago. We haven’t reached Newark, NJ’s low status yet, but evidently we are trying our best. I wish I knew the answer, but we aren’t alone in this mess. Having visited 44 states, including the New England states, my desire would be to live in New England in the summer and here in the winter. I like snow, but not that much snow. You will like Florence from that stand-point. Again, welcome to Florence. One word of advice. Never, never, never tell someone from the South, “up North we do it this way.“ Trust me, it will only open a can of worms. By the way, 40 years ago a high school education here was the equivalent of a 4 year college degree now. That is called dumbing down America to accommodate those that don’t want to learn or can’t lear.
Dave, I was not directing that at you, it was to Scarecrow who said I left a crap-hole and was trying to make my new home a crap-hole.
And yes, Massachusetts does represent, in my opinion, the other end of the spectrum. I think they over-tax the majority of the time, and that the people don’t fight enough against it there. They just pay it. As I said, these are poler opposites, and really the examples of what not to do on both sides. However, I would still rather live in the nicer towns in Massachusetts. That’s just my opinion though; I’m a New Englander, I grew up there, have ties to there, would love to grow old there.
Ironically, I was actually just having this exact conversation with my father last week.
However, regardless of higher or not, I believe they err on the side that should be erred on. My High School education was much better than most, and my college was a public college, funded mostly by the state (although Mitt Romney tried to change that). I was never afraid to leave my windows open at night when I lived in Mass, and that was while living in the 5th most populated metropolitan area in the country. In Florence, a city of 35K, I do not have that same comfort, and I’m nearly certain if we raise our children here, we will invest in a private education.
dewstain, did I say something to indicate I thought a high tax place is a crap hole, as you put it? High taxes should indicate the area’s attributes,but that is not always the case. If you have a lot to spend but squander it,as government is so famous for doing, that may not be the case. Enough said.
I am sitting here laughing…I never considered Florence a “crap hole”...I will say, that I have lived in nicer places. Yes, you have to pay higher taxes for better services and a nicer community.
Consider this, we could all be living in Marlboro County. 
As far as my mom’s house…let’s just say, you wouldn’t see her house in Florence, unless it was in the CCSC or maybe Windsor Forest…but even those owners don’t pay as much as my mom.
$8500 a year in taxes? Holy Crap! At the risk of being nosy, what is the value of the house? If you would rather not say, I’ll understand.
I think the key here is that clearly there are certain people that don’t want Florence to be a nice place to live. Otherwise, they would be happy to pay a bit more each year to improve what is a very sorry excuse for a downtown area. I know it’s a tough concept to comprehend, but in order to make improvements, money has to be spent. And towns and cities make money from TAXES. It’s a very simple economic concept.
Dave and Scarecrow, I’m sorry if you think that a place that has high taxes is a crap-hole, but the truth is that it was a much nicer place to live than Florence. I live here because it’s the nicest town around. However, it’s certainly not what I would define as “nice”.
Don’t confuse expensive with crappy, I think you’ll find that the world tends to work in a somewhat contrary way to that, and that spending a bit more will make things worlds better with each passing year.
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