BENNETTSVILLE — On Monday night, the Bennettsville City Council met for back-to-back specially called sessions during which an update on the city’s budget was provided by Financial Director Samuel Sparkman and discussions and votes were taken by the council to re-hire City Administrator William Simon Jr., Magistrate Grover McQueen and Magistrate Chastity Rummage.
Budget update
According to Sparkman, the city’s budget is currently on track.
“We have had a good month this past month. Of course, we still are a little — Mr. [William] Simon and everybody here at the city or within the county was a little late getting their revenue to us — but we did have a good month for December and actually for January,” he said.
Citing a previous revenue projection on real estate, Sparkman said the city is currently above budget.
“We are looking probably by the time of April 30, we may even be, I don’t know, a good maybe 25% above what was projected for the real estate tax,” added Sparkman, pointing out a reassessment was conducted using figures from the county’s tax base, leading to a 5% increase in the overall budget projection.
“We are actually 5% above the budget projection at this time. At a quarter to 10 months, we are at like 83.3%. We are actually performing at the bottom of the general fund here — so we are actually at 88.14%, [or] 5% above,” explained Sparkman.
After cuts, Sparkman said the budget is about 9% below expenditure, while he says the city’s utility department is looking healthy.
“Right now, our priorities are the revenues. We are putting together those projections now, looking at where we are, and we’ll have those ready for you in a couple days. We have talked to the individual departments, and they are aware of the expectations this year with the budget,” said Sparkman, adding department heads are aware the council is pursuing focus on improving city infrastructure needs.
Discussion and vote on re-hirings
Up for discussion and vote Tuesday night was the re-hiring of three city officials: City Administrator William Simon Jr., Magistrate Grover McQueen and Magistrate Chastity Rummage.
When council members returned from executive session swift votes were taken, unanimously re-hiring both magistrates without any further discussion.
A vote was initially taken in favor of continuing to retain Simon as Bennettsville city administrator, however, several council members then objected, saying they believed a discussion was going to be held prior to a vote.
“I still have some questions about it. I thought we were going to discuss it before we took a vote on it,” said Councilwoman Wanda Weaver.
In response, Mayor Tyron Abraham reminded council of a previous discussion held on the matter last week.
“And then he presented the new contract information that you [Mayor Abraham] gave. I still have a question on the new contract,” reiterated the councilwoman.
Following Weaver’s words, Mayor Abraham again called for a vote and a motion was made by Councilman Tyrone Davis and seconded by Councilman William Jennings Jr.
A nearly unanimous vote to continue to retain William Simon as city administrator followed with Councilwomen Caraline Harpe and Wanda Weaver voting in opposition of his re-hire.