06/04/2026
CITY COUNCIL APPROVES FY 2026-2027 BUDGET WITH NO TAX OR RATE INCREASE.
PROPERTY OWNERS TO SEE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER CITY TAX BILLS
At their June 2 meeting, members of Bishopville City Council gave second and final reading of the Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget of $10.49 million. The FY 26-27 budget, which will go into effect on July 1, does not include a tax or rate increase. Taxpayers will even see as much as a 66.3 percent decrease in City property taxes, thanks to the local option sales tax credit.
City Administrator John Douglas said the local option sales tax credit factor has been adjusted upward to .005027, resulting in savings for all City property taxpayers. For example, City taxes on a $100,000 owner-occupied home will decrease from $360.30 last year to $121.30 this year, or by 66.3 percent. On a $30,000 vehicle, taxes will decrease from $201.69 to $129.99, or by 35.6 percent. The change in vehicle taxes will commence in January.
In addition, the City’s Financial Affairs Committee recommended that, instead of a 3 percent Cost of Living Adjustment, all employees receive a $1 per hour increase. “This will help the lower paid employees more and will bring the lowest paid employees to above $15 per hour,” Douglas said.
Council held a public hearing on the proposed FY 26-27 budget before giving it unanimous approval.
Mayor Luke Giddings thanked the City’s financial consultant, administrator and department heads for their “diligent work on presenting a balanced budget with no tax or rate increase.”
Shane Kirkley, the City’s financial consultant, went over the monthly financial report for April, telling Council the City continues on a sound financial path. “We are trying to find ways to increase revenue for the City with the money that we are holding,” he said. “The reserve cash you have on hand is $2,038,000, which has increased by about a million from where you were last year…I think we’re doing a really good job of staying in line with the budget that was passed by Council and a good job of trying to grow that reserve back to where we know it needs to be.”
In other business, Council:
• received the Police Chief’s monthly report. For the month of May, officers responded to a total of 273 calls for service, filing 46 incident reports. Thirty-six traffic stops were conducted; 31 warning tickets were written, and nine citations were issued. Six arrests were made and three warrants were served. Officers logged 308 security checks;
• gave second reading of Ordinance 2026-09 (Meters Serving Multiple Units) The ordinance establishes that billing for customers who have a single meter serving multiple units will be billed based on the number of units. “This would make billing equitable,” Douglas explained. “For example, some apartment complexes in the City have meters for each unit and thus a base (minimum) bill for each unit is paid, while others have a single meter serving multiple or all units and only pay one base bill;”
• gave second reading of Ordinance 2026-10 (Sole/Single Source Procurement) Douglas said sometimes due to a product being available from a single source or when the City has previously gone with one brand and needs additional items, “it makes getting multiple bids either impossible or useless.” To use single source procurement, CDBG requires that the City have an ordinance allowing it. Procurements using this ordinance that are more than $5,000 would come before City Council for approval;
• gave second reading of Ordinance 2026-12 (Lee County Property Transfer) The ordinance conveys M.M. Levy Park to Lee County in exchange for Lee County conveying property where the City has the well, water tower and pump station in the James Industrial Park and a sewer pump station in the Lee County Industrial Park with no monetary consideration;
• gave second reading for Ordinance 2026-11 (Fund Transfer/PILOT) The City currently transfers 15 percent of Enterprise Fund revenue as a franchise fee paid to the General Fund. “Due to a recent court case involving the City of Columbia, the Municipal Association recommends that municipalities pass an ordinance detailing this practice,” Douglas said. The ordinance also includes a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) by the Enterprise Fund to the General Fund equal to the amount of City property taxes the Enterprise Fund would pay if it were privately owned;
• gave second reading of Ordinance 2026-13 (Utility Reactivation/Re-tapping) The ordinance establishes utility reactivation fees for meters that have been inactive for more than 12 months but not more than 60 months, as well as re-tapping fees for meters that have been inactive for more than 60 months.
In new business, Council:
• authorized the administrator to work with the Lee County 250 Commission to install banners on lamp posts downtown. The commission would like to hang 21 of the banners to commemorate Carolina Day. Lee County 250 will provide the banners;
• authorized Council members Shirley Hill, Gloria Lewis and Belinda Hay’s decorations request for the purchase of new lighting for the trunks of the trees that line Main Street and seasonal banners for lamp posts downtown;
• approved a resolution to purchase property on Shaw Street for the location of a pump station as part of the CDBG project;
• gave first reading of Ordinance 2026-14 (Bailey Bill) This ordinance would allow owners of properties located within the Bishopville Commercial National Register Historic District and that are at least 50 years old to have their property tax assessment kept at pre-construction value for a period of 5 to 20 years, depending on the amount spent on rehabilitation as compared to the fair market value of the property prior to construction;
• gave first reading of Ordinance 2026-15 (Meter Tampering/Damaging) This ordinance will allow the City to charge customers the cost of meter replacement when the customer damages a meter. “This will become especially important when the new meters are installed,” Douglas said;
• gave first reading of Ordinance 2026-16 (Property Sale) The ordinance is for the sale of the property at 206 N. Main St. to Taylor Land and Timber for $100,000;
• approved a low bid of $1.53 million submitted by Basinger Contracting Company for Piedmont well lime fee improvements. Douglas said that $1.5 million is covered by an RIA grant so the City is responsible for $27,744;
• approved the purchase of Sensus meters at a cost of $999,999 (included in the FY 26/27 budget). The new meters are necessary since the City did not have an ongoing water meter change-out, upgrade or testing program. Utilities Director Freddie DuBose said the City has water meters in operation that are 40 to 50 years old and the older a meter is, the less accurate it is, meaning lost revenue for the City. The industry standard for water meter replacement is 12 years. “The City was continuing to waste money on the purchase of replacement meters due to failures and new installations that were not the newer technology meter,” DuBose explained. After all information was received and presented to City staff and the administrator, the staff agreed it would be in the best interest of the City of Bishopville and most cost effective to go with Sensus Brand Read Meters, Reading and Transmitting System;
• referred a request from the Lee County Cruise Car Club to have a cruise-in at Depot Square on the last Saturday of every month to the appropriate City committee to review and come back to the full Council with a recommendation;
• tabled appointing someone to the City’s Architectural Review Board until the next meeting;
• entered executive session to discuss a contractual matter concerning a potential property acquisition and a contractual matter concerning the Central Carolina Technical College project on Main Street.
Upon returning to open session, Council authorized the administrator to proceed with the acquisition of a lot on Shaw Street and approved the Boudreaux Group to provide architectural services for the CCTC renovation project.
