Monday night, York County Council unanimously approved next fiscal year’s budget, set to go into effect July 1.
The $87 million spending plan includes, for the first time in as many years, a three-percent merit raise for county employees and no increase in the tax rate.
The plan calls for a projected net use of 4-million dollars in the county’s reserve fund. County Manager Jim Baker says that’s cushion is nothing new.
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Baker said Monday that while the state budget still has yet to be finalized, county staff had to prepare the budget not knowing what was yet in store from Columbia.
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The county budget also includes a 35 thousand dollar expenditure for hosting an appreciation day for county volunteers later this summer. Council voted 5 to 2 Monday to approve expense, with supporters like councilman Bump Roddey saying it’s a small price to pay for dedicated volunteers.
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Also Monday, council revisited the county’s animal control ordinance which has failed twice before council over the past eight months. Roddey chairs the public safety committee and has spent the better part of a year working with county staff to polish the plan.
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Council also heard from animal rescue groups before publicly discussing the animal control ordinance that has twice failed muster.Council Chairman Britt Blackwell said that it’s time council addressed the issue head-on.
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The plan, as it stands now, also calls for female dogs tethered outside to be spayed and requires the owners of five or more animals to register with the county at no cost. Rock Hill resident Alicia Schwartz has previously addressed council saying that updating the ordinance.
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The ordinance also gives the county’s animal control department more leverage in enforcing the laws currently on the books, a move that Roddey says will free up Sheriff’s Deputies to focus on human crimes.
