S.C. Directed Funding to Provide for Critical Needs Across County

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

The list of projects is long, but its logic is simple. It begins, in a way most appropriate for the home of “The Electric City,” with a generator.

When a hurricane, ice storm, tornado or other disaster disrupts the ordinary supply of electricity, some people can manage with flashlights, batteries and patience. Others cannot. A person dependent on oxygen, dialysis-related equipment, ventilators or another powered medical device faces a different kind of emergency. For them, the loss of power is not merely inconvenient; it is a threat measured in hours.

With the passage of directed funding, or earmark, legislation by the South Carolina General Assembly, Anderson County has secured $8,008,422 in approved legislative community-investment projects for the coming appropriations cycle, spread across 10 jurisdictions. The funding will touch roads, parks, fire departments, municipal buildings, water lines, public safety equipment and veterans’ services. But one of the most consequential allocations is $891,455 for a medical-emergency-shelter generator at the Anderson Civic Center.

The Department of Public Health funding was sponsored by S.C. Rep. Blake Sanders and S.C. Rep. Bill Whitmire. Once installed, the generator will allow the Civic Center to operate as a medical emergency-power shelter for people whose survival depends on powered medical equipment.

“The is absolutely a huge move to make Anderson County a more resilient and prepared county for disasters,” said Anderson County Emergency Management Director Josh Hawkins, who added it will provide one of the largest venues for such services statewide.

The county’s existing emergency shelter, operated in partnership with AnMed Health, can help only 12 to 25 people, Hawkins said. The Civic Center generator would expand that capacity to 500 people, including people displaced from other parts of South Carolina.

For five years, Hawkins said, the county had sought funding for the project, with Anderson County Governmental Affairs and Special Projects Director Steve Newton leading the effort. The county explored potential grants, including FEMA hazard-mitigation funds, without success. Eventually, it turned to the legislative delegation.

Hawkins praised S.C. Rep. Sanders, S.C. Sen. Mike Gambrell and S.C. Sen. Richard Cash for their work to secure directed funding. He also thanked Whitmire, whose district includes Oconee and Pickens counties. Anderson County, Hawkins noted, is a likely landing place for people displaced by emergencies in Oconee County, including any potential event involving the nuclear plant.

“We really appreciate these representatives who have been great supporters of Emergency Management,” said Hawkins.

The legislative investments include a collection of equipment lists: an armored vehicle, a tanker truck, a quick-attack truck, breathing apparatus, traffic-signal technology, water piping and road funds. But each item begins with a local vulnerability — a road where people are injured, a fire district without enough water capacity, an aging air pack, a storm-damaged park path, a municipal building with mold in its walls.

Public safety, emergency response and community-wellness projects received substantial directed funding.

A coalition of S.C. Rep. Don Chapman, Whitmire, Sanders and S.C. Rep. Craig Gagnon helped secure money for fire departments and law enforcement. The City of Anderson Police Department will receive $332,800 through the Department of Public Safety for an armored SWAT vehicle. Chapman and Gagnon also sponsored $140,000 for Anderson County’s Safe Streets for All initiative.

The Safe Streets for All, or SS4A, program is an infrastructure-planning effort intended to reduce traffic fatalities and severe injuries, with a stated goal of zero roadway deaths by 2045. The county has received more than $700,000 in U.S. Department of Transportation grants for the work since 2023.

The program will evaluate Anderson County’s 1,500 miles of roads and develop a “High Injury Network” identifying the county’s most dangerous corridors and intersections. Its urgency is written into the local collision data: 220 fatal crashes occurred between 2017 and 2021, including 41 involving pedestrians. The resulting plan is expected to prioritize sidewalks, ADA-accessible paths, biking trails and safer crosswalks.

The fire-service funding is equally specific.

Chapman, Gagnon and Whitmire helped secure $700,000 through the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation for a tanker fire truck at the Double Springs Fire Department, as well as $165,500 for a mini-pumper response truck at the Zion Volunteer Fire Department. The need for the Double Springs tanker was so acute that other departments had been trying to help the agency find funding.

The same three legislators secured $150,850 for a quick-attack truck for the Townville Fire Department. Gagnon individually sponsored $75,000 for a rescue and brush truck for the Grove Fire Department.

Sanders sponsored three equipment grants: $115,000 for the Town of Williamston Fire Department, $65,000 for the West Pelzer Fire Department and $42,817 for the City of Anderson Fire Department.

For Williamston, the funding means a replacement for equipment firefighters must depend upon when the air around them cannot sustain life.

Williamston Fire Chief David Huff said the department welcomed the funding for new self-contained breathing apparatus equipment.

“We actually had requested this last year as we were planning for the end-of-life air packs this year,” said Huff.

After three unsuccessful efforts to get FEMA funding for the air packs, the department asked the legislative delegation for help. It is currently using used air packs bought after a fund-raising golf tournament several years ago. Those packs are now at the end of their useful life. The replacement equipment is expected to last 15 years.

The apparatus allows firefighters to enter spaces where breathing is hazardous or impossible. Huff praised Sanders and Gambrell for working behind the scenes to secure the money.

A large portion of the new money will move through the less visible systems that make daily life possible: streets, water infrastructure, traffic signals and public spaces.

Sen. Cash sponsored $997,000 through the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism for work at Chris Taylor Park. The project will reconstruct a walking track, bridge and boardwalk. Portions of the existing path have eroded into a public hazard and are in serious need of repair. The bridge will be replaced, and the track will receive a complete makeover.

Cash and Gambrell jointly sponsored $1 million from the Department of Administration for County Transportation Committee matching funds, along with $400,000 from the Department of Transportation for an Emergency Vehicle Preemption Systems Program.

CTC matching funds — often called “C” funds — are state transportation revenues drawn from a portion of the gasoline tax. They are distributed to local County Transportation Committees, which can use them alongside local or federal money on regional road and bridge projects.

“These funds are vitally important to put less strain on the county’s general fund,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns.

The Emergency Vehicle Preemption, or EVP, system is part of a pilot program intended to give first responders green traffic lights at intersections. Anderson County recently received a $529,600 U.S. Department of Transportation grant for the system. It allows emergency vehicles to override traffic signals, creating “all red lights” until the emergency vehicle has passed.

The promise is immediate and practical for first responders: fewer seconds spent waiting at an intersection, fewer chances for a crash, and a faster path for ambulances, fire trucks and law-enforcement officers moving toward a call.

Gambrell is also the sole sponsor of several municipal projects: $1.08 million from SCPRT for renovations at McFall’s Landing; $500,000 from the Department of Environmental Services for water-system improvements in the City of Belton; $500,000 for Town Hall renovations in Honea Path; $240,000 for Pelzer Lower Mill mitigation infrastructure; and $150,000 for community-facilities repairs and renovation in Iva.

At McFall’s Landing, on Broadway Lake, the work will include a full replacement and upgrade of the concrete boat-launching ramps and the installation of new courtesy docks intended to improve safety and access for boaters and kayakers.

The Belton funding will serve as matching money, unlocking more than $2 million for water projects. Those projects include reworking piping for a standpipe, moving a water main from beneath a house beside the standpipe, building a new main down Green Street, and installing new mains on Washington and Tollison streets.

In Honea Path, the funding will help return the town’s administrative operations to its historic downtown municipal building. The project involves stabilizing the roof, stopping water leaks and removing mold and asbestos. Workers will add new sheetrock and paint, remodel office space, establish new council chambers and offices, install an electric lift for accessibility and create a drive-in window for bill payments.

“This will be a great boon for downtown Honea Path” Burns said.

The investments in Iva are smaller, but no less revealing of the steady maintenance burden carried by small towns. The town plans to replace air conditioning in public facilities, including the Iva Civic Center; replace or upgrade bathrooms at the farmers market and other public venues; replace all windows in the Iva Municipal Activity Center, the former high-school cafeteria; repair the gazebo roof on the town square; and make other repairs, including adding a permanent stage.

Town Manager Tim Taylor said the grant will make work possible that Iva could not reasonably fund on its own.

“Without these funds, we would never been able to take care of these things in Iva,” said Taylor. We especially want to thank Sen. Gambrell for his support.

At the Pelzer Lower Mill Project, the $240,000 will help match awarded grants and complete technical studies identifying what needs to be done at the site. It could also allow work to begin on something new at the property sooner than planned.

Another $163,000, sponsored by Chapman, Gagnon and Sanders, will go through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to a local Veterans Support Program. The funding will support Vets Helping Vets and be administered through Anderson Veteran Services.

The final $300,000 allocation will be used to move utility poles in Powdersville near the new AnMed facility, making way for road construction and related work. The money will be routed through the Office of Regulatory Staff.

Earmarks can sometimes sound like the distant legislative arithmetic of a line in an appropriations bill, a sponsor’s name, a dollar amount, or a state agency. In Anderson County, the money is allocated more concretely. It is a generator large enough to shelter 500 people with medical needs. It is a tanker truck for a department that needs water where hydrants may be scarce. It is a walking path that will not crumble beneath a visitor’s feet, a water main moved from under a house, and a town hall made safe enough to use again.

“Anderson County is grateful for the efforts of members of our legislative delegation to help us get these projects done,” Burns. “If this funding had not been made available, most of this work would not be getting done any time soon.”

Sanders described the effort as a collaboration intended to return state tax dollars to the communities that generated them.

“Community investment is about making sure the tax dollars South Carolinians send to Columbia come back home and are put to work where they can make a real difference,” said Sanders. “I will continue fighting for investments in roads, public safety, parks, infrastructure, economic development, and other projects that strengthen our communities and improve quality of life. These are investments in projects identified by local communities as priorities. My job is to make sure our communities have a seat at the table and that we bring our fair share of resources back home, with transparency and accountability for every dollar.”