City Oks Budget Transfers, Fire Station 4 Consultant, UDO

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson City Council gave final approval to a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), the annexation of 9.36 acres on Edgebrook Drive, and gave initial vote to amending the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 budget, and a consultant to plan for the construction contract for City Fire Station 4.


The amending on first reading of the city’s 2025-26 and 2026-27 budgets is to account for grants, insurance payments, bond proceeds and capital-project money that was approved in one fiscal year but will be spent in another. The amendments do not chiefly represent new spending decisions. Rather, they update the city’s books to reflect money that arrived after the original budgets were adopted, or funding already committed to projects that were not completed before the fiscal year ended. City Council adopted the 2025-26 budget in June 2025 and the 2026-27 budget in June 2026.

For fiscal year 2026, the city proposes using $716,971.88 in fund balance for several projects and expenses: $15,724.87 to continue work on the Unified Development Ordinance with Houseal Lavigne; $37,540.85 in design costs for the Carolina Wren Park parking deck; $127,232.10 as the ACATS Anderson County C-funds match for street paving; $501,674 to demolish property on South Main Street; and $34,800.06 for emergency medical technician equipment not covered by opioid-program requirements.

The ordinance also carries forward $6.5 million in prior-year balances into fiscal year 2026. The largest share, $5.59 million in Hospitality Fund bond proceeds, is designated for Linley Park and Cater’s Lake. Other carryover items include $804,000 in capital-lease proceeds for two garbage trucks, $48,308.58 in Police Paytel funds and $59,033.55 in detention-commissary funds for specialized supplies.

Grants received during fiscal year 2026 would add another $11.6 million to the budget. The largest is a $7.48 million SCIIP grant for the Generostee Creek Relief Sewer Lines project. The city also received $3.81 million in American Rescue Plan funds, $112,492.63 for opioid recovery, $86,308.43 from the South Carolina Department of Highway Safety for overtime, $34,445.40 for police body cameras and $83,200 in additional Federal Transit Administration Section 5307 revenue.

The amendment also recognizes $132,419.57 in insurance proceeds received during fiscal year 2026.

For fiscal year 2027, Anderson proposes carrying forward $78,275 from the prior year: $28,775 for guardrails at city property on South Main Street and $49,500 for the Business Assistance Program.

The proposed 2026-27 adjustments would also add $993,049.64 for items not reflected in the original budget. They include $68,024.64 in insurance proceeds for a Fire Department vehicle, a $425,025 increase in retail business-license revenue matched by additional street and streetlight operating expenses, and a $500,000 increase in the water capital budget for meter replacements.

The effect of the amendments is less dramatic than their combined figures might suggest. They are an accounting correction with practical consequences: a way of ensuring that grants, insurance payments and capital money remain visible in the fiscal year when the city spends them — and that the final budget can be compared more honestly with the city’s audited financial statements.

City council also approved on first reading $32,000 to hire Hogan Construction as Construction Manager at Risk for pre-construction services at the proposed Fire Station 4 on the Richard A. Shirley Parkway. The consultant, who has built fire stations across the Upstate as well as in Georgia and Utah, is tasked with creating a scope for a final budget with maximum price guarantees for the new station which will serve the growing population of the area.

Also on Monday, council approved the final passage of the UDO (story here), which merges elements of the city’s Comprehensive Plan with new development standards looking to the future. 

“It brings these together into a single document, which have been updated throughout the process,” said City Administrator David McCuen. 

Maurice McKenzie, Planning and Development Director at City of Anderson, said the new ordinance follows the zoning map in the Comprehensive Plan and includes earlier sign ordinances. McKenzie said the new UDO can be adapted and changed as needed as the city grows,

The new Edgebrook subdivision is expected to follow the new guidelines with 15 new houses and a green space in the development.