“I propose we think and plan more strategically for the development of Greer Station and the Wade Hampton Blvd. corridor,” City Administrator Ed Driggers’ wrote in the request for council to peruse.
Driggers gave council the overall proposed budget of $18,497,661, an overall operating increase of 2.37 percent or $429,402 over last year’s budget. The millage rate will remain at 97.8 mills – the estimated value of one mill is $95,542. The increase, Driggers stated, is nearly one half of one percent less than last year’s overall increase and nearly 1.5 percent less than 2011-2012. He noted the proposed 2013-2014 budget remains below what the city was spending on in 2008-2009.
Driggers recommended Council commit $500,000 to Greer Station over the next five years. The allocation is $25,000 for year one, $100,00 in year two and $125,000 in each of years three-four-five. “Monies allocated for Greer Station will be held and managed by the City of Greer,” Driggers stated.
The city’s three-year commitment of $50,000 to Partnership For Tomorrow ends in fiscal 2013-2014.
Driggers told council, “Those dollars (for Greer Station) are our dollars and will not be passed through third party groups.”
The Greer Station project would be, “an incentive for residential development in downtown, landscaping and road improvement,” Driggers said. An example would be to partner with a business for fire suppression costs.
“I proposed we commit $1 million to the development of a street lighting program for Wade Hampton Blvd. to be engineered, planned and constructed over the next three years. Restricted special funds will be used for this project along with a fund balance allocation,” Driggers explained in his statement.
“The street lighting system, city-to-city boundary, will give Greer a true gateway,” Driggers said.
Council will hold a workshop after its regular meeting on May 28. The first reading is scheduled June 11 and the second and final reading June 25.