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The Allendale County Council is discussing a marginal tax increase and recently approved a tax anticipation note, a type of loan that allows local governments to borrow against future tax revenues.
The tax increase was discussed at a September 12 special called meeting. At the meeting, Allendale County treasurer Vallarie Smith criticized the council for what she believed was a lack of transparency.
“You need to be real with the citizens, because you’re asking the citizens to pay more money,” Smith. “You’re not being real and saying ‘we got this in outstanding debt that we need to flip.’ We should know how much outstanding debt we got.”
Council member Bill Robinson said the county is hiring an intern to help straighten out the county’s billing situation.
“I feel it’s unbelievable that as we sit here today, I cannot tell you how much money we owe out,” Robinson said. “It seems like the only way to get a handle on this is to get someone here to go through [everything] since we’ve been so busy paying bills.”
Inflation has also been an issue for the county’s finances, according to county council chair Matthew Connelly.
“Inflation has got us like everybody else,” said Connelly. “Insurance [and] retirement is going up, of course the salaries are going up to match our neighbors. Unfortunately that’s where we are.”
The approved tax anticipation note was up to three million dollars, which interim administrator Chanel Lewis said was what bond attorneys recommended based on the previous year’s expenses. This is an increase from 2023, when the county council approved a $1.5 million tax anticipation note.
“This is a standard financing process that happens in governments across the state,” said Lewis. “The bulk of the [tax] revenue, more than 75% during this short period between December and March of each year.”
The council also discussed the county’s lack of an administrator after resident Dean Allen raised concerns during the public comments section.
“When are y’all going to actually hire an administrator?” Allen said. “There’s never a date that you can call the administrative office and everybody who is employed there is there.”
A municipal administrator is typically responsible for looking after the day-to-day activities of county government, like managing budgets, working with elected officials and overseeing county projects. In June 2023, the council terminated Bert O’Rear, then-administrator of the county. Since then, Lewis has been serving as interim county administrator. In October 2023, the county met with O’Rear and his attorney Denny Major in executive session.
On September 30, there will be a joint meeting with the Allendale County Council, the Allendale Town Council, the Fairfax Town Council, the Ulmer Town Council and the Sycamore Town Council at 6:00pm at the James Brandt Building.
Elijah de Castro is a Report for America corps member who writes about rural communities like Allendale and Barnwell counties for The People-Sentinel. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep Elijah writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today.
