BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood Town Council members quickly adopted final reading of the 2024-2025 budget Monday night with no amendments or alterations.
Council members voted 4-0 to approve final reading. Councilman Rich McKenrick was absent for the vote.
The more than $7.3 million spending plan includes a 3.2 percent cost of living (COLA) and merit increases of 3 percent for all staff. Each of the Town’s employees will also receive $500 to be used for gym membership, child care or similar use. There is also a $10,000 Public Safety grant for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department’s Region 6 Station in Blythewood and a $10,000 Public Safety grant for the local Columbia Fire/EMT station. The budget includes $6,540 for council and staff cell phones.
The budget also includes approximately $4,000,000 million in capital projects.
Monday night’s prompt passage represents a departure from first reading in May, when council members sparred over outside funding requests, farmer’s market funding, chamber funding, and the Bethel-Hanberry gym project.
Early drafts of the budget included other controversial provisions including a 30 percent salary increase for council members before it was removed from the budget.
The budget approved Monday night totals $7,326,885, a 22.89 percent decrease from the current budget of about $9.5 million.
In budget documents, interim administrator Danial Stines attributed the drop-off to an amendment in the current budget relating to revenue and expenses for Scout permitting and licensing.
“We tied this in with the comprehensive plan and the council’s direction on how to prepare the budget, as well with the citizens of Blythewood,” Stines said.
Expected annual revenues total $7,601,856 while expenditures are set at $7,326,885, leaving a surplus of $274,971. Budget documents also state a fund balance of about $7.7 million.
“While staff anticipates continued increased revenues and expenditures related to Scout, these funds will be better and more accurately depicted in future budget amendments,” the budget states.
There are no fee increases in the proposed budget, though the budget does include increases in the number of businesses requesting business licenses, with a projected increase in business license revenue of $47,100 from within town limits.
Blythewood does not have a residential millage rate.
No residents signed up to speak for the public hearing nor did any residents publicly comment on the budget.
“Blythewood has had a long history of maintaining a conservative budget and those efforts are reflected in the FY25 budget,” documents state.
Fund requests for outside community entities have been capped at $50,000, which includes $4,650 for the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce.
The budget drops outside legal expenses from $500,000 to $100,000. It also funds new staff positions: an HR generalist (currently budgeted), an economic development and annexation coordinator, six summer interns costing $14,400 and a part-time administrative assistant.
On the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) side, the overwhelming majority of the $7,326,885 budget is appropriated to Capital Outlay – Improvements. These improvements include the following:
- Playground expansion ($43,200)
- Farmers Market ($750,000)
- McLean Property Payoff ($1,585,214)
- Amphitheater Field irrigation ($131,376)
- Restroom facility and soccer field ($1,000,000)
- Bethel-Hanberry gym project ($1 for placeholder)
- Dock Redecking-Doko Pond ($55,000)
- Hoffman House-exterior restoration ($200,000)
- Coax for Park Gates ($25,000)
Councilman Donald Brock had proposed at first reading to temporarily assign $1 funding placeholders for the Bethel-Hanberry gym and farmers’ market projects, citing concerns over cost and contractual disputes. He previously argued the $1 placeholders would keep the projects alive so they could be further debated. The $1 was approved for the gym, but did not replace the $750,000 for the farmers market in the 2024-2025 budget that was approved Monday night.
