LAURINBURG – Scotland County residents will see the tax rate dip by a penny for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
The county commissioners unanimously approved taking the property tax to $1.01 per $100 per valuation during a final workshop Monday night on the $40.2 million budget. Commissioner Clarence McPhatter did not attend.
County Manager Kevin Patterson said new tax rate was possible by reductions in expenditures for general services in Parks and Recreation, the Health Department, Department of Social Services and an increase in projected sales tax revenues.
Under the budget, all county employees would receive a one percent cost of living raise and longevity bonuses for eligible employees who had been with the county over five years. The budget also gives a five percent pay increase to the 45 sworn law enforcement officers at the sheriff’s office in order to make pay comparable to that of the Laurinburg Police Department.
“These changes do not impact employee compensation per my recommendation and they do not impact the number of employees,” Patterson said.
Several commissioners and residents had urged Patterson to consider the 1-cent rate reduction from the current $1.02.
Local resident Thomas Locklear told the board that he would like to see the county reduce the tax rate by 3 percent using the money it will see in savings from school consolidation. He offered county officials a handout with ideas.
“Residents are struggling to make ends meet currently and the county is offering no relief in the form of a decrease in taxes,” Locklear said.
Board chair Carol McCall thanked Patterson and his staff for listening to the residents of the county and working to find a way to make the reductions.
Commissioners Betty Blue Gholston and Bob Davis were pleased with the reduction. Both said that they had set a goal to reduce the tax rate by a penny each year until the amount was under $1.
“I’m very happy we were able to do that for our citizens and hope that next budget year we can bring it under a dollar,” Gholston said.
Commissioner Whit Gibson recognized the efforts of the Scotland County school board in helping to reduce the county’s tax rate. Davis also thanked the school board for its “willingness to help reduce the tax rate.”
“I think it’s important to note that the amount of money that the county has provided to the schools this past year was $225,000 t0 $230,000 less than the previous year, and in the year coming up it will go down another $225,000,” Gibson said. “I don’t believe we’d be reducing the tax rate if it wasn’t for some of the conversations and decisions that have been made between the two boards.
The budget includes no fee increases or decreases, meaning taxes and water rates would stay at last year’s levels.
In next year’s budget, 47 percent covers personnel pay; 34 percent goes to uncontrolled items like the school system; 10 percent covers operations; and 9 percent is set aside for capital.
The county’s four largest expenditures are the school system, Department of Social Services, sheriff’s office/ jail, and the Health Department.
Scotland County Schools will receive $12,381,000 a reduction of $1 million from last year.
The sheriff’s office and jail account for over $5 million; some of the cost is offset by $300,000 in revenue collected from civil fees.
Social Services takes $7.7 million of the budget, but collects $5 million in revenues from the state and federal governments.
The Health Department receives $2.7 million of the budget, and brings in $1 million in revenue in reimbursements from Medicaid and other state and federal programs.
