Daniel Prince
Apr 26, 2023
Lobbying group, preservation group among those vying for county funds
Union County Council held the second of three budget work sessions Tuesday night at the courthouse. They heard from a number of outside agencies seeking funding. Those included the Union County Chamber of Commerce, Clemson Extension, 4-H, Union County Council on Aging, C-4 Services, Union County Library System, Union County Fair Board, Miracle League of Union County, NAACP, Capital Consulting, USC Union, Union County Historical Society, Preservation South Carolina, Union County Livestock Association, and Union County Fire and Rescue.
One of the new groups to appear before council was Capital Consulting. They are a lobbying firm seeking to represent Union County in Columbia to seek state budget funds for projects in the county. Supervisor Phillip Russell told council that he worked with Capital Consulting when he was working in Clinton, and it was a successful partnership. He said he views it like the partnership with Retail Strategies, which the county pays to market the county to potential retail stores. Capital Consulting would be marketing the county to legislators in the state house. They said the county has a strong delegation, and having a couple of its senators on the finance committee is extremely good for the county.
Another new area is Preservation South Carolina. Supervisor Russell stated that the city and county are working with the group to get a plan to stabilize the historic Dawkins House, which is located near USC Union and served as the state capital briefly when the governor fled Columbia prior to General Sherman burning the city during the Civil War. The city and county plan to split the engineering costs to get a stabilization plan for the building, and then they will discuss options on how to move forward. The proposed cost to the county and city would be $10,000 each.
The Union County Fair Board requested funding from the county for the first time in years, according to Executive Director Paul Winters. He said the cost of running a successful fair and keeping up with required maintenance and upgrades to the facility that has seen increased use in recent years is more than the fair board can afford moving forward. Some of the needed maintenance includes flooring and other upgrades to the bathrooms, paint on the buildings, safety upgrades to the walkways, fixing water damage and other structural issues in the barns and petting zoo area, fixing the roof over the stage, upgrading to LED lighting, upgrading the RV hookups at the fairgrounds, and more. He noted the fairgrounds were used 205 days last year for special events, 4-H meetings, city and county driver training, fire department training, and much more.
We’ll have more from the meeting in future newscasts. The next budget session will be next Tuesday, when Supervisor Phillip Russell will present budget needs from the various county departments. Second reading of the budget will take place during the regular May meeting, and the public hearing and final reading will be in June.