Berkeley council passes budget

MONCKS CORNER -- Berkeley County Council narrowly passed a budget Monday that includes sales-tax rebate money originally meant to lower property taxes.

It will cost the owner of a $150,000 house about $27 more when tax bills come out.

"I'm very wound up about this," Paul Kessler of Bonneau told council before the vote. "Personally, I didn't give you permission to do that. I don't agree with it. I didn't vote for it."

His remarks got widespread applause from the crowded chamber.

Berkeley County residents get a rebate on their property taxes to make up for paying an extra penny local sales tax, a condition of the 1996 referendum that authorized the increase. The budget, for the third year in a row, uses 29 percent of the rebate, or $2.83 million this year, for debt payments and roads, buildings and equipment.

Monday's vote came after a lengthy debate and several recesses for legal advice.

Councilman Steve Davis said he was voting to include the sales-tax money in the budget because it's the only way St. Stephen will get a badly needed new courthouse.

"It's very rare the citizens down my way have an opportunity to see their tax dollars at work ... (for) a worthwhile cause," he said.

Davis also said it was time to get beyond the politics that have weighed down the budget process in the last few months. The budget was a major issue in Supervisor Dan Davis' re-election campaign.

"This whole climate in relation to this budget has been so clouded politically," Steve Davis said. "A whole election was based on the issue. ... We need to move forward."

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Councilman Tim Callanan urged council to hold off on approving the budget and consider alternatives that don't use the sales-tax rebate money. He reminded council that last month Finance Committee Chairman Jack Schurlknight said he would hold a workshop if Councilman Dennis Fish came up with an alternative.

"We made Mr. Fish spend an enormous amount of time on a commitment on some sort of compromise and workshop that really wasn't there," Callanan said.

Fish told council he finished his alternate budget Thursday.

Schurlknight said he had not seen anything from Fish.

"We were being as fair as possible," Schurlknight said. "Every meeting I reminded people what needed to be done to schedule that workshop."

Council approved the new budget on a 5-4 vote.