Spartanburg 2023-24 city budget: Proposed solid waste fee increase concerns council

Spartanburg City Council postponed giving final approval for a $51.5 million budget after raising concerns about a proposed $90 fee increase for solid waste during Monday's meeting.

The fee sparked a two-hour discussion about the city's proposed 2023-24 fiscal budget before the council decided to postpone the vote until its next meeting on June 12.

The first reading and public hearing for the city budget took place during the last City Council meeting on May 8.

The total budget proposed is $51,571,187 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023, until June 30, 2024. Approximately $25.5 million of the total amount is budgeted for one-time expenditures such as funds for the new fire department headquarters.

The proposed budget is a slight increase over last year's $48 million budget, but only $46 million of last year's budget was spent. City Manager Chris Story attributed the increase to more revenue the city is seeing from growth in the property tax base and other business-related revenue.

"We’re seeing significant signs of positive business activity in general," Story said. "That comes to us primarily through the business license tax and the hospitality tax which is tied to food and beverage sales. Both of those are growing at significant rates, indicative of a thriving local economy."

Here are five things to know about the proposed 2023-24 budget:

City residents could see an increase in solid waste fees

A $90 increase to the residential solid waste fee is a controversial part of the proposed budget.

City staff says the solid waste fee increase, the first increase since 2008, would bring the fee closer to the actual cost per household of the services. Those services include weekly garbage collection, twice-a-month curbside recycling services, and curbside green waste collections. If passed, the fee would be increased to $198 annually from $108.

The fee, Story noted, is still subsidized by the city and is in line with what other cities in the region, like Greenville and Rock Hill, are charging for the same services. According to staff, the increase would cover significant inflationary increases, particularly the cost of equipment.

Several council members, including Erica Brown, Ruth Littlejohn, Jamie Fulmer and Rob Rain, felt that the sharp increase would come as a shock and possible burden to their constituents. Rain and Fulmer were also concerned that a property tax increase could come to many city residents this year, making the $90 increase that much more difficult.

"I don't think (it's) the right move," Rain said. "I think it's got to be done gradually."

City employees may be getting a raise next year

Next year's budget sets aside $2.1 million to fund wage increases under a new city employee compensation system.

The money would provide all city employees with a minimum 5% raise and would be one of the biggest new expenditures. However, it was also one of the first expenses that came to mind for council members looking to offset the solid waste fee increase.

“I do want us to try to bring our staff to market which we’ve been trying to do over time. I think there’s a situation where we have to bring that up over time as well,” Rain said. “I guess my thought is, if you do no fee increase, you’re getting halfway there on compensation; if we did a small fee increase, maybe we’re getting 60% of the way there. I’ve got to think there are savings elsewhere in the budget that are reasonable that we could get 75 or 80% of the way there.”

Mayor Jerome Rice agreed with Rain that city workers are due for a pay increase, but worries about how the solid waste fee increase would impact families.

“We need to get there, we have to get there. But also looking at almost doubling the fee for our citizens that is a hard ask," Rice said.

He added the fee increase may not look as bad to some. But to others, the increase will impact their daily living.

Brown, while concerned about the fee increase, was also hesitant to delay the compensation plan.

“I don’t recommend that we wait on the compensation increase because I feel like we had that conversation when I came onto council and that was in 2014. We have continued to kick the can down the road,” Brown said. “So, if we’re about investing in our people, and we want the best of people in this building to do this work for our citizens, I think we need to do what we can to be competitive.”

$9.2 million is set aside for the new fire department headquarters

The largest one-time expenditure in the proposed budget is for renovations to the new fire department headquarters at 450 Wofford St. in the former Integral Solutions building.

Approximately $2.58 million of the $9,280,000 project total would come from the city's remaining ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds.

The finished fire station will be 60,000 square feet and feature 15 individual bunk rooms, a dining area, and a museum.

More: COVID-19 hasn't slowed Spartanburg development

A $4.5 million in streetscaping near the proposed Minor League baseball park

An even $4,500,000 is dedicated to streetscaping for West Main Street.

The project is fully funded by a state grant received in the last General Assembly. Story said council should be able to approve a design and contract later this summer.

This will be one improvement coming to the West Main corridor, which will also be home to the new Minor League baseball stadium.

More: Updates: New Minor League stadium, $250 million project planned for downtown Spartanburg

$2.5 million will be dedicated to homeownership, affordable rental programs

The proposed budget also sets aside $2.5 million dedicated in equal parts to homeownership programs and affordable rental housing programs and other projects.

"Broadly, the goal is to help as many renting households in the community become homeowners in the community," Story said.

Staff also hopes to use some of the remaining ARPA funds to boost the affordable housing supply.

The specific programs and projects will be determined at a later time.

More: Spartanburg updates: Groundbreaking planned for planetarium. Hub City Hopper Trail opens

Some other one-time investments include $2.4 million to city police for tech and facility upgrades, $1 million for parking garages enhancements, $650,000 for enhancements to Duncan Park, a $500,000 contribution to the library's downtown planetarium, and $100,000 for the development of a Morgan Square programming and management plan.

Samantha Swann covers city news, development and culture in Spartanburg. She is a University of South Carolina Upstate and Greenville Technical College alumna. Contact her at sswann@shj.com or on Instagram at @sameatsspartanburg. Can't get enough food news? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for foodies, Spartanburg Eats.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburg City Council delays budget approval over proposed fee increase