At the request of The Dillon Herald, we sat down last week with Clay Young, Dillon County Administrator, about some of the highlights in the approved 2013-2014 budget for the county and what he believes the financial condition of the county is at this time. We also talked about what he has seen change over the past 10 years and what he sees going forward for Dillon County.  Clay Young was the County Administrator for Dillon County from 2001 to 2008 and from 2011 to the present.

Question: What were some of the highlights in the 2013-2014 Fiscal Year Budget for Dillon County?
Answer: Before we get started I want to say from the start, the County of Dillon is in as good of financial condition at any time in its history. I would even further go on to say we are probably in better financial condition than most counties and cities in South Carolina. This is based on the fact that we have not had to make any major cut-backs or reduction in our services.  Our fund balance has remained solid and our debt service is based on short financing. In fact we have gone from having to do tax anticipation notes to pay our bills to having funds to build a new spec building, funds to match a number of State and Federal grants, maintaining our existing facilities, and giving us the ability to compete with other counties in SC for providing a good quality life.  We have done this with a millage rate that puts us somewhere in the middle of all the counties South Carolina.

Question: How has the county changed financially over the past ten years?
Answer: When I came here in 2001 we were struggling financially. We were having a hard time paying our bills and making payroll due to this financial condition.  Because of this financial condition the county council in 2002, established some goals and policies to improve the economic base of the county and improve its financial position. The goals and objectives, which were continued by the preceding County Councils, are now starting to help the county accomplish these outcomes. Even today with a sluggish national economy the county has put itself in position to not only compete with other counties in South Carolina for economic development projects but, with any area of the country.  The county has finally put itself in a position to offer incentives to compete for economic projects where just a few years ago would not have been possible. With the investment by the county, working through the cities of Dillon and Latta and Trico Water Company, to improve the availability of water and wastewater at the intersections of exit 181 and 190 along I-95 has made some of this possible but, there are other things, also.

Question: What were some of the other things?
Answer: One of the best things the county has done financially was to go to one set of books or one general ledger.  State Law does not require the County Treasurer to work with the County Administrator and county council to establish one general ledger.  In fact there are still counties in South Carolina who operate with two sets of books, one by the Treasurer and one by the County Administrator.   By not having one general ledger it hurts the county’s ability to manage how much revenue is coming in during the year and if you are meeting your projected revenue numbers.  It is very important to know on daily or weekly bases if you are meeting those revenue projections.  If you are aware of those issues early on you can address those issues or make some changes in your budget as they occur.  Our County Treasurer understands this important issue and works with me and the county council to avoid these problems.  In fact her office goes as far as to provide the County School District and the cities and towns in the county with the same daily and weekly revenue information as is provided to the county. Another thing the county did back in 2004-2005 was to implement a purchasing system tied to the general ledger. Therefore, requiring purchase orders to get approval before purchasing the item and posting it to the general ledger has helped both the Department Heads and the Administrator to better manage who, when, and what was purchased ahead time or why it had to be purchased. In conclusion, the department heads and elected officials in the county have done an outstanding job of working with me toward staying within budget and working together to keep cost down.  This is even when the county has had a number of increases in insurance. state retirement, and Federal wage costs.

Question: What were some of the highlights of  the proposed budget?
Answer: The first thing about the proposed budget for this fiscal year is there is no millage increase for general operations or debt service. This is the fourth year in a row that we did not have to increase millage to balance our budget.  I consider this a major highlight in this year’s budget, and it shows proof that we are accomplishing what we started 10 years ago.  Another highlight is that we have not had to make any major cut backs to staff or services with this budget. We did go up one dollar on solid waste fees to offset the consumer price index (CPI) Lee County Landfill imposed on us starting in July, 2013.  This dollar will only cover the cost associated with this CPI increase. Lee County Landfill is where we dispose of our trash or Municipal Solid Waste. With the hiring of a Finance Director in this year’s budget, the county should be able to increase its oversight of the budget and provide for better checks and balances.  The position should also enable us to help meet the needs of the new accounting requirements for governmental agencies.  With the repair of the Transfer Station at the landfill and the expansion of our current construction and demolition (C&D) landfill it should enable us to better control our solid waste needs in the future.

Question: Where do we stand on all of the Capital Projects Sales Tax projects?
Answer: With passage of this year’s budget the county council has concluded that all of the Capital Projects Sales Tax projects are complete.  State Law requires the county council to make this conclusion before it can do other things with any remaining funds.  There is approximately 2.1 million left over in this fund.  The county council took the approach that these funds were paid for by the extra penny sales tax implemented in 2002 through 2008 to provide for capital projects outlined by the referendum passed in 2002. Therefore, any remaining funds should be applied toward future capital projects approved by Council and not put in the general operating fund of the county.  The Council established three line items in the budget to address this change. Of 2.1 million left over the county council set aside $611,111 toward improving sewer in the Latta area, $593,714 toward infrastructure improvements in the Lake View area, and the remaining funds to help assist the county with other water and sewer, road, fire station , economic development or some other type of capital project.

Question: Where does the county stand on the New Dillon County Justice Center/Sheriff-Coroner building?
Answer: This project should be going out to bid sometime in late July or August of this year (2013).  The Justice Center building is approximately 28,500 square foot with an estimated cost of $3.2 million.  Currently, the Sheriff, Magistrate’s office, and the Solicitor’s office are the only offices scheduled to go into the building.  There are three courtrooms and additional office space for future use for the county in this building.  Since the building will be built by the detention center we have incorporated in the plans to build a secured walk-way to connect the two buildings. This secured walk-way will help provide for enhanced security to the court system as well as the public and citizens who use this facility. The Justice Center will be paid partially by a general obligation bond and from our fund balance. An alternate to the plans is a Sheriff and Coroner’s office building, separated from the Justice Center, to store evidence for both offices and for providing a space to conduct investigations in a controlled environment.

Question: How long is it going to take for the Marlboro Development Team to build the new spec building for the county?
Answer: It is our understanding the new spec building will be completed within the next 12 to 14 months from this July, 2013.  The building and the 15 acres of land will not exceed $2.5 million. The county’s agreement with the Marlboro Development Team is we will not acquire the building until it is totally complete and ready to market to a company or business.  The county will reimburse the Marlboro Development Team its 2.5 million once it completes the building. One of the major goals of this project is to start marketing this building in July of 2013, with the possibility of finding a company to acquire the building prior to its completion.  Therefore, the county would not have to pay the 2.5 million for the building.  The county has contemplated building a spec building over the past 7 to 8 years. But, due to its financial condition it was not able to accomplish it.  The county has realized by not having a spec building it puts us at a disadvantage with other counties in South Carolina and other parts of the country in attracting business and industry to our community.  We have also learned that a lot of businesses or companies today want a building already built and ready to move into without the wait time associated with a new building. Another aspect we learned about not having a spec building was that a lot of companies will not even visit your county without having a spec building for them view. This is even though they might consider building a new facility in your community. Since the county has made this a major priority to attract industry over the past few years, we have decided to finance this spec building out of our fund balance. We are hoping this building will be the first of many spec building to be built in the county as we try to increase the tax base of the county.  Some other aspects why we considered the Marlboro Development Team was their land option agreement with the property owner, their marketing team, our past association with Marlboro Electric Cooperative in partnering with them on past economic development projects, and the location of the building.  But, one of the major aspects why we chose this location for this project was the county’s pass financial commitment to run sewer to this area of the county and the funds we had already spent putting in a frontage road to this project.  The sewer was rerouted around Love’s Travel Center in 2007, to Hwy. 34 with the idea to run it to the new frontage road we built a few years earlier with the capital projects sales tax funds. The sewer line extension was paid for by a grant from the SC Department of Commerce and a special source revenue bond issued by county council.

Question: Did the county provide funds for Resource Officers for the Dillon County School District and the Christian School?
Answer: The county did provide $170,000 in matching funds toward the cost of these officers. The Dillon County School District provided $150,000 and the Christian School provided $20,000 toward the county’s contribution for a total cost of $340,000. With the addition of these new resource officers every school in the county will be provided an officer.  The county is hoping this will provide increased security for every school in the county.

Question: Is the county still working on the Fire Hydrants Program it estimated last fiscal year?
Answer: The county did approve additional funding for this project for this fiscal year. The idea behind this project is to work with Trico Water Company, the City of Dillon, and Towns of Latta and Lake View to provide fire hydrants to citizens who do not have one within 1,000 feet of their residence and are within 5 miles of a fire station. Should a residence be within 5 miles of a fire station and within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant they can get the best fire rating for their area.

Question: Did the county pass Standard Operating Guidelines for the County Fire Departments?
Answer: The county did pass (last fiscal year) some standard operating guidelines for County Fire Departments.  These guidelines addressed many of the safety and legal requirements associated with operating a county fire service.  There have been so many changes from the State and Federal governments associated with how cities and counties can run fire departments the county could no longer operate on its old policies and procedures.  Therefore, we took this opportunity to consolidate all of our needed changes into one set of guidelines for all county departments.  In the past all of the County Fire Departments had their own set of guidelines separate from each other.  With this new set of guidelines all of the county fire departments operate off the same set of policies and requirements. I am sure these guidelines will have to be addressed over the next few years to stay in compliance with some of the new rules and procedures coming from the State and Federal governments. Most of these rules and requirements have stemmed from the recent incidents associated with fire related accidents and lack of procedures.

Question: What are the county’s plans toward Economic Development in the future?
Answer: The county had a major announcement back in April 2013, concerning the expansion of Harbor Freight Tools.  Harbor Freight Tools is expanding its current facility by approximately 1 million square feet.  This expansion will increase their facility in Dillon to 2 million square foot making it one of largest operations in South Carolina.  The investment will be around 60 to 70 million with the creation of 150 to 200 jobs. Some other projects the county is working on concerning economic development is through the Northeastern Strategic Alliance (NESA). Through NESA the county just completed an economic development plan outlining what we need to address in our community to attract new commercial and industrial development.  NESA also is working with the county to bring industrial site consultants to our community to show them, on a personal basis, what we have to offer their prospective clients. The county felt it was important to have these groups actually come to our community and experience what we have to offer instead of getting an email or some type of brochure.  The County is continually working with Marion and Marlboro counties to attract industry to the Tri-County Park.  With the expansion of Harbor Freight Tools the county will improve the Tri-County Park’s infrastructure by approximately 4 million.  This new infrastructure will be completed by November 1, 2013.  The improvements will coincide with the relocation of some water and sewer lines within the park and the building of a new truck entrance road to Harbor Freight Tools. There will also be some improvements on Hwy. 34 and a new entrance road to serve the remaining park property.  All of these improvements are being paid for by grants from the South Carolina Department of Commerce, and Marlboro Electric Cooperative, and with the remaining funds coming from the Dillon, Marion, and Marlboro Industrial Park Corporation. Another program the county is working on is the interstate improvement plan.  This plan enables the county, working through the State, to clean-up and maintain areas around the intersections of interstate 95.  The county is still moving forward this year to get some additional industrial sites certified through the SC Department of Commerce. This program provides the county the means to have these sites posted on the Department of Commerce’s web page and provides us the means to secure a predetermined price for the property and boundary location.   Due to the county’s investments in economic development projects over the past few years it has decided to recoup some of these funds through the establishment of a county economic development fund.  This fund will enable the county to get the funds put into these projects by taking a portion of the taxes paid by the industries located in the county multi-county park fee agreements.  Therefore, enabling the county to recoup all of its investment funds or providing a way to be able to reinvest those funds into other economic development projects.