City meetings
By Lauren Dean
City Council: October 12
Special Meeting
A special meeting was called by three Council members to grant funding for FollyPalooza, a festival started three years ago by Councilman D.J. Rich to attract business to Folly Beach in the off-season and raise money to help residents suffering from cancer. A resolution to draft a check for $4,000 from council discretionary funds passed unanimously.
The festival was approved in prior years by the Folly Beach Accommodations Tax (ATAX) Advisory Board, but ATAX funding is being held up by the S.C. Tourism Expenditure Review Committee (TERC) in an attempt to exert more control over how the $40 million the State collects each year in accommodations taxes is distributed. Rich said FollyPalooza is scheduled for October 23 and they need the money now, so Council agreed to take the money out of the Council Discretionary Fund and hope that TERC will approve the expenditure, at which point it will reimburse the discretionary fund. If TERC does not approve the festival, the discretionary fund will be short $4,000 unless the festival managers repay the fund from their proceeds.
A resolution was also introduced to distribute other time-sensitive money controlled by the Community Promotions Foundation, which had requests of $500 for the Senior Citizens Club, $1,000 for the Halloween Carnival, $2,000 for the Christmas Parade, and $2,000 for the Folly Beach Relief Fund. These funds are not affected by TERC because they come from general revenues rather than ATAX money. Councilman Charlie McCarty said he supported the requests but would like to have a member of the foundation present before taking a vote. Municipal Clerk Mary Cunningham explained that the foundation had not met for the past four months because they could not get a quorum so the allocations had not received final approval. But, what the heck, since we’re here, let’s approve these, too.
Council members discussed each of the requests from the Community Promotions Foundation according to the four questions they are required by law to ask: What is the intended ultimate goal or benefit to the public? Are public parties or private parties the primary beneficiaries? Is the benefit to the public speculative or real? What is the probability that the public interest will be ultimately served and to what degree? All the requests were granted, but McCarty pointed out that in doing so City Council had assumed the accountability of the Community Promotions Foundation and they are required to delegate authority to that body.
Folly Beach used to distribute funds to promote local businesses and help residents in times of need without all this pesky governmental oversight. Past City Council members could vote to chip in $50 to send their neighbor’s child to camp or $100 for a grand-daughter who made it to the finals of some kiddie beauty pageant or give a scholarship to a bright young resident strapped for cash for college. Whether the funds were evenly and fairly distributed in an unbiased manner was never a consideration. It was undisguised pure politics and while that might have been okay when Folly Beach was a quaint, folksy community where everyone knew each other, things don’t work that way anymore even if we wish they did. Oversight is particularly needed when the City starts handing out large checks to a sitting Council member’s pet festival that promotes itself as a charitable event. That could cause trouble.
Council Work Session
Comptroller Charlie McManus made a presentation on the status of the City’s paid-parking contract with Palmetto Parking. He said there are a total of 368 parking spaces at beach access areas and in the washout area. He referred to the arrangement as a “turnkey operation that generates revenue without our incurring any expenses.” According to McManus, the City retains 85% of the net revenue generated and its income from the paid-parking program in the last fiscal year was $171,000.
“This is a very important source of revenue for Folly Beach,” McManus said, adding that property tax reassessments and declines in Folly’s share of state accommodations taxes are likely to reduce income for the City. He made several suggestions for increasing revenue including extending the hours for paid parking and increasing the rate per hour. He also suggested reducing the number of resident decals from two per address to one or even none. At the present time, three decals have been issued for every parking spot, according to McManus.
Tweet
