The Tigerville Fire District and Chanticleer Community Special Tax District – two agencies from very different parts of Greenville County – are each trying to raise their property tax rates.
The Tigerville Fire Department, which serves 7,500 people in a 31 square mile area in northern Greenville County, has proposed a 53% increase in the tax rate that would increase the annual property tax of $ 100,000 by $ 62.80.
The department plans to increase the pay of its three full-time firefighters, hire part-time workers, and buy a new fire truck, dump truck, and $ 70,000 vehicle for their chief fire officer.
Chanticleer district officials, which include about 275 homes in an upscale country club community southeast of the Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital campus, are looking to increase the tax rate for the second year in a row to include the cost of a full-time alternate cover, who monitors the neighborhood police.
This year’s rate hike would add $ 121.68 to the annual tax burden on a $ 845,000 home.
The proposals were unanimously approved at the Greenville County Council Finance Committee meeting on Monday and are now being presented to the entire county council for consideration.
A public hearing must be held on any proposed tax increase before it is finally approved.
Tigerville fire chief: tax hike would “increase community safety”
A proposed spending plan would increase the property tax rate in the Tigerville Fire District from $ 29.60 to $ 45.30 per $ 1,000 of estimated value.
If approved, the increase in the tax rate would allow the district’s annual budget to grow from $ 407,666 to $ 650,076.
Speaking to the finance committee, Tigerville fire chief Gary Gresham said his department had to pay better salaries to its three full-time firefighters.
“We have to be more competitive and stop being the training ground of the neighboring agencies,” said Gresham.
He said he also wants to hire additional part-time firefighters so there are two paid employees on each shift.
In addition to its paid staff, the district has 31 volunteer firefighters, but more than half of them live at least 17 minutes from the fire station, Gresham said.
The district plans to issue approximately $ 1 million in bonds to fund the replacement of a 47-year-old fire truck and a 29-year-old tanker truck. The district also plans to use part of the budget increase to buy a $ 70,000 vehicle for Gresham.
The district’s firefighters responded to 498 calls in 2020, including 16 structural fires and 196 medical calls, records show. The average response time was 5 minutes and 39 seconds.
The district includes 1,400 households, 28 businesses, 12 churches and North Greenville University. The university pays the district $ 25,000 annually, Gresham said.
The proposed tax hike, which would be the second in the district since 2019, “will make the community safer,” Gresham said.
“We will be able to keep highly qualified, professional staff,” he said.
Gresham said the district held four community meetings on the proposed tax rate hike. He said a total of 21 residents attended the meetings and most of them supported the district’s plans.
Councilor Joe Dill, whose district is Tigerville, praised the fire district.
“You’re running a tight ship and you’ve done a good job,” said Dill.
The Chanticleer District needs more money to pay a sheriff’s deputy
The Chanticleer Community Special Tax District would generate an additional $ 20,000 by increasing its property tax rate from $ 14.70 to $ 18.30 for every $ 1,000 of the estimated value.
District chairman Alan Schusterman told the Treasury Committee that $ 15,000 of the additional income would be used to pay for an assistant Greenville County Sheriff’s Office who patrols the Chanticleer community on a full-time basis.
The remaining $ 5,000 would be transferred to a reserve account to pay for future cost increases.
The Chanticleer District is paying about $ 60,000 for the alternate and associated costs, Schusterman said.
The district tax rates used to pay the surrogate will have increased 53% in the past two years if the final proposal is approved, records show.
Kirk Brown covers government, growth, and politics for The Greenville News. You can reach him at kebrown@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM. Please subscribe to the Greenville News at greenvillenews.subscriber.service
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