Eric Connor

econnor@greenvillenews.com

The economic climate in Greenville is proving yet again to be favorable, as the city expects to operate this coming year with a surplus of tax money — totaling more than $20 million across its various functions of government.

The city will fund some of the most-ambitious plans in its history, and leaders say the extra money set aside, as the economy brings increased revenues, will be necessary to pull them off.

The City Council is poised to give initial approval to the budget it has discussed since February. The budget doesn’t raise taxes but does slightly raise some fees related to garbage and sewer service.

The initiatives include grand investments — a new, signature city park, upwards of $20 million on the west side of downtown along with another $3 million to improve neighborhood parks, the beginning of a $15 million transformation of the Greenville Zoo, setting aside $5 million toward the down payment on a new downtown parking garage and $45 million for sewer improvements over the next decade.

On a smaller scale, new neighborhood trolleys will begin rolling through neighborhoods in June, police will be fully equipped with body cameras, $1 million will help expand new sidewalks across the city, another $1 million will go to street resurfacing, and the remaining money needed to complete a Woodruff Road connector road by the end of the year will be allocated.

Still, there is some room for initiatives that might arise.

For instance, one amendment proposed to the budget before the first vote is creating a new, $1 million fund for expansion of the Swamp Rabbit Trail and other greenways in neighborhoods solely within the city.

More: How $5.6 million will change Greenville's city parks

More: Greenville Zoo's new, $15 million look into the future

“I don’t want to let another budget go by without us having greenways as a line item,” City Councilwoman Amy Ryberg Doyle said. “It needs to be a separate initiative just like sidewalks, and in my opinion, on par with sidewalks.”

The majority of the council has expressed support, Doyle said, but how the remaining surplus is spent will depend on a balance of short-term initiatives and longer-term goals.

This coming year, the budget calls for $23.5 million devoted toward capital improvement projects. In many cases, larger visions, such as a new parking garage in the West End, require three or four times more money than is available as a surplus.

The city sets aside a 20 percent reserve in its general fund.

“The surpluses need to be viewed within the context of the capital improvement program,” said Kai Nelson, the city’s management and budget director. “There’s always competing priorities and a fixed pot of money.”

In the parking fund, there is expected to be a $4.5 million surplus even as garage fees remain the same and three new garages have come online and the city renovates one of its 12 garages each year. However, the city's vision for a garage in the West End to relieve pressure there would cost between $10 million to $15 million, Nelson said.

There is expected to be about a $4 million surplus in the city's general fund, which is funded by property taxes and various fees, Nelson said. The city has funded the replacement of the Augusta Street fire station, he said, but must find money to replace the outdated East Stone Avenue station.

More: New trolley routes for Augusta Road, West Village proposed

More: Mile-long sewer tunnel planned under downtown Greenville

Longer range, Nelson said, the city has discussed what will happen with the aging law enforcement center and the potential need for a new police station. Still, the city is enhancing services, such as a new school resource officer for J.L. Mann High School, two new planners for the planning department, a new zookeeper and more lights for the Main Street bridge.

Last December, the city allocated $2 million for affordable housing efforts. The coming budget doesn't propose any more funding for the effort, though leaders have said they are waiting to see how the current money is used and what its impact will be before deciding on more funding.

The money collected via tourism-related taxes and fees has increased again from last year. The city expects to collect $11 million in hospitality fees, which is nearly $500,000 more than last year and about $2 million more than three years ago.

Adding in accommodations taxes and fees for admissions and Sunday alcohol sales, about $17.8 million will be brought in, leaving a $5.2 million surplus.

The city has set aside $2 million for the second phase of city park, $300,000 as part of a five-year commitment to build a new S.C. Children's Theater and $1 million to help with Greenville Zoo renovations.

The money this year will help fund a redesign of the zoo's entrance, a new lions den and veterinary clinic. Completing the entrance first will allow the zoo to point to a visible accomplishment in its fundraising efforts, City Manager John Castile said.

Other tourism-related money will go toward $5 million in improvements to the Greenville Drive baseball stadium.

The city had already set aside $3.5 million in the past to fund an extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail from Greenville Tech, along the Greenville Country Club's golf course to connect with the trail at Lake Conestee Nature Park.

When the country club declined to participate, $2.3 million was shifted to help fund the construction of new bridges for the Swamp Rabbit extension from Cleveland Park along Laurens Road to Verdae and CU-ICAR.

Greenville County is overseeing the bridge construction, which will build bridges for the trail over Laurens Road, Haywood Road and Verdae Boulevard. An existing former railroad bridge will span over Woodruff Road, and a street crossing will be constructed at Keith Drive, said Ty Houck, the county's Greenways, Natural & Historic Resources director.

The construction is expected to begin in January after the county secures the last bits of right of way for the trail, Houck said.

The city has $1.2 million left from its original appropriation, and Doyle said that the money should be used this year with a line item set aside every year. Trails in neighborhoods would be guided by the suggestions of a city greenways committee, she said.

"We should be bold," Doyle said. "We need to be doing our own projects. We are trying to create a mobile city, trying to create a sustainable city. It's a critical part of who we are."

The city is proposing two fee increases — a 50-cents-per month rise in the solid waste fee to $16 and about a 5 percent increase in monthly sewer fees.

The city is considering a proposal to create a separate sewer fee that would be dedicated to sewer rehabilitation projects. If enacted, the 5 percent fee increase would be readjusted so that the overall increases related to sewer would be about the same, Nelson said.

The city had feared that it could lose as much as $5.7 million annually because of proposed state legislation that would have created exemptions from business license fees. However, the legislation wasn't approved and has been carried over into next year, said Julie Horton, the city's intergovernmental relations manager.

The city is awaiting the outcome of the state's proposed revision to the pension fund, she said.

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