Daniel Prince
Resident speaks out against deeding City Park to USCU
At Tuesday’s meeting of Union County Council, Andrew Dobson presented the county’s financial audit for the previous fiscal year. The result was a clean, unmodified opinion, which is the highest and best opinion that is given on audits. He said there was one finding to report, and it was a noncompliance with state law in the single audit, which deals with federal funds. State law requires that any funds held by a government entity must be collateralized, and on June 30, 2022, the amount of collateral was less than the total amount of money on hand. Supervisor Phillip Russell explained that the county had received American Rescue Plan Act funds that day, and the bank account it was sent to had a collateralization limit that was exceeded. He said it was a good problem to have, and it was being fixed. Dobson said the county is already in talks with the bank to either increase the collateralization limit or to use other options. He said it is a common finding for governments and school districts, and he praised the county for taking steps to correct the issue.
In the general fund budget, the county received nearly $2.6 million more in revenue than they budgeted. Total revenue was $19.2 million for the fiscal year. Expenses were up nearly $739,000 from last year, but they came in around $656,000 less than budgeted. In all, the general fund increased by $1.4 million, from $9.1 million last year to $10.5 million this year. Dobson said that represents just over 6 months of operating funds on hand, which he said is really healthy.
In other news from the meeting, County Council passed third reading of an ordinance to convey the City Park property at 615 West Main Street to the Union-Laurens Commission on Higher Education. The vote passed 4-0, with Annie Smith recusing herself because she is an employee of USC Union. A public hearing was held prior to the meeting, during which one resident spoke out against the move. Roger Dowty questioned why the county is essentially giving this piece of land to the university. He said that sports distracts students from their studying, and by doing this, it is a disservice to the students. He also said that by taking the basketball court away, it is doing a disservice to the community, many of whom walk there to play. Supervisor Phillip Russell stated that there are several things the Parks and Recreation Department are looking at to provide basketball access in the area. He said one major thing they would like to do is to reopen the Recreation Department, which is climate controlled and has a nice court. He said they want to put in some part-time employees to help do that. He said courts could be put in at the park on Perrin Avenue, where the recycling center used to be next to 911, at the park in Ottaray, and at South Hills. Dowty also advocated for moving events off Main Street to the City Park property. Bill Rochester told him that the reason events are held on Main Street is to encourage people to come downtown and to support the downtown local merchants, and that having events at the park would be too far away from the Main Street merchants to have an impact on them. Dowty also suggested letting the Farmer’s Market use the space, but Elise Ashby, whose group runs the market, said they are in the perfect location already.
We’ll have more from the meeting in a future newscast.