Mayor Swails: 'Town in an excellent position financially'

MOUNT PLEASANT -- Despite a difficult economy, the town does not intend to raise property taxes and business license fees or cut services to balance its budget, Mayor Billy Swails said tonight.

"There are thousands of our citizens who are struggling to meet a payroll and to pay their mortgage. We are going to do everything possible to avoid adding to that burden," Swails said in his first State of the Town address.

The town, which has a $12 million savings account, a $63 million budget and a population of 66,000, has grown rapidly to become the fourth-largest municipality in the state. In 1986, its budget was $3.5 million and 22,000 people lived in Mount Pleasant.

"The town itself is in an excellent position financially," Swails said. "We will live within our means. It will be a tight budget but we don't anticipate any change our in services. We have frozen 33 positions, but I believe we'll be able to weather the storm without any furloughs or layoffs."

Swails, 62, a former councilman and a State Farm insurance agent, became mayor in November after winning a three-way race against former Councilmen Gary Santos and Joe Bustos. Swails received 45 percent of the vote. He took office with four new council members: Linda Page, Elton Carrier, Craig Rhyne and John Burn. Incumbent council members Paul Gawrych, Thomasena Stokes-Marshall, Nick Collins and Ken Glasson endorsed Swails for mayor.

"After three months, I am convinced we have a group of hard-working council members who have no personal agendas other than the advancement of this town for the benefit of our citizens," Swails said.

Business growth is needed for the town to maintain its high level of service to residents, Swails said. Two years ago, council suspended its residential building permit cap program because because new home growth had dropped below 3 percent.

"We simply cannot sustain the quality services our citizens desire based on the revenues produced by a residential tax base," he said.

Toward that end, the town has aggressively courted suppliers for Boeing's new $750 million 787 Dreamliner plant in North Charleston. "We've had some very encouraging meetings with representatives of Boeing," he said.

Read more in tomorrow's Post and Courier.