Proposed budget advanced by Council

Plan includes capital purchases, Public Works enterprise fund

Simpsonville, S.C. — The proposed budget for the City of Simpsonville cleared its first hurdle on Tuesday when Simpsonville City Council unanimously approved moving the budget ordinance to the next City Council meeting.

Council voted 6-0 at the Committee of the Whole to add to the May business meeting Ordinance 2021-05 for fiscal year 2021-2022. Councilman Ken Cummings of Ward V was absent.

The vote followed a budget presentation by City Administrator Dianna Gracely. 

"I am pleased to provide you with a budget summary for the proposed FY '22 budget that once again does not require any type of tax or fee increase," Gracely said. "It also does not propose any borrowing from the fund balance or any debt other than the bond debt that we have very concisely discussed at previous meetings and that are tied to those specific projects for our public facilities and downtown improvements."

Budgeted by department are capital purchases, which include new vehicles, equipment and property maintenance. Gracely is asking Council for two new patrol vehicles for the Simpsonville Police Department and one new vehicle for victims advocacy.

"It's important, I think, to add new vehicles to the fleet every year and retire some of the older ones that have higher mileage," Gracely said. 

Gracely also proposed funding resurfacing of the parking lot for Simpsonville Fire Department Station 2, which Gracely said is "deteriorating significantly" and requires "heavy-duty concrete" to repair. Funding is also set aside in the proposed budget to move the disc golf course from City Park to Heritage Park to create room for new public facilities.

A highlight of the budget is the new Public Works enterprise fund. A result of the Public Works fee increase approved by Council in 2018, the enterprise fund enables the City to take back sanitation services on Sept. 1 by purchasing trash cans and four garbage trucks in addition to creating seven new personnel positions, including a sanitation supervisor. 

The budget also proposes a 4 percent cost-of-living pay increase for all employees starting Oct. 1. With Phase II of the City's compensation plan going into effect July 1 or the start of the new fiscal year, Gracely said the pay increase is being delayed three months.

"So as not to put an undue burden on our Human Resources director to make all those changes at one time, we are phasing this," Gracely said. 

Council approved the three-phase compensation plan in 2019 to ensure competitive pay by the City and therefore better retention rates and employee performance. Phase I instituted a pay bump for public safety personnel, while Phase II will raise the rest of employees' salaries to the minimum pay grades based on years of experience.

Gracely said delaying the cost-of-living increase after implementation of Phase II salary increases will further tie pay rates to seniority.

"We thought it was the most frugal way to move this forward for the City and the employees and the fairest way to do it," Gracely said.

Mayor Paul Shewmaker said he agreed with the approach to the implementation of compensation changes.

"With my experience in human resources, I totally agree with that," Shewmaker said. "It's exactly the right way to do it, makes much more sense to everybody involved and is obviously easier on our HR person."

The proposed budget also includes a 5 percent increase in health insurance costs for City employees, which was less than what Gracely expected.

“I can tell you in all of my years in city administration, I have never seen a health insurance renewal at a rate this low before," said Gracely, who attributed the low increase to the availability of free primary care by Proactive MD. "It's really helping manage health care."

Shewmaker said he had also never seen a rate increase as low in his experience in human resources.

Councilwoman Stephanie Kelley of Ward 2 made the motion to advance the ordinance with a second by Council Lou Hutchings of Ward 6. A public hearing and vote by Council on first reading of the budget ordinance are expected at the business meeting on May 11.