Council to Hold Final Vote on $300 M FY Budget Monday
Anderson County Council will vote in a special meeting on Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the historic courthouse on the final reading a proposed $300.1 million budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 built from property taxes, fees, grants, and special funds, each ledger item detailed for a specific public purpose. Council’s goal in the budget is to provide basic services, making sure restricted revenues stay restricted so the money raised for one service is not siphoned off to support another.
The current budget proposal contains no property tax increase, and a two percent raise for county employees.
From the $140 million general fund, Public Safety requires $66,393,215, with revenue for the operations of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, making up the largest line-item on the budget.
The mandated hiring of 27 new deputies to serve at the new Anderson County Detention Center are added to the approximately 298 officers, who are tasked with patrolling the county’s 714-square miles, plus the 42 miles of water in emergencies, as well as the Emergency Management Department. The office also has 22 detention office civilians and 114 civilian employees, bringing the total to approximately 520 total positions.
The proposed budget also includes $12.5 million in capital projects funds for the new detention center, which is slated to open in November.
County staff salaries and benefits and other administrative costs come in at $45.7 million and Roads and Bridges work at $13.8 million make up the other greatest demands in the budget.
Council is also waiting for the South Carolina General Assembly to finish their work and make official any directed funds, of which the county has several requests on the books totally well over $1 million.
The core of the budget is the general fund where council is authorized to set the millage needed to support those appropriations, with the total county millage capped at 83.2 mills, not counting debt-service millage set separately by the auditor. This means property taxes are still the county’s main support funds, while other revenue streams are used to take some of the weight off taxpayers. The current 73 mills in the proposed budget includes 5.9 mills for the Anderson County Library System countywide, 3.3 mills to provide for county students attending Tri-County Technical College, 3.3 mills for the capital fund, 3 mills for Anderson County Sewer and .9 mills for the infrastructure reserve fund. Fees are also set by statute for sewer, solid waste/recycling, civic center, animal shelter 911, and road encroachment.
The solid waste fund is fed by residential and commercial solid-waste fees, a Starr C&D Landfill usage fee of $33 per ton, and revenue from recycled-material sales, interest income, state grants, and tire revenues, which together are expected to total about $11.5 million in fiscal year 2026-2027.
