WINNSBORO – The Winnsboro town council passed their 2023-2024 budget Monday. At $4,225,392, the new budget is $707, down from last year’s budget which was $4,932,854.
Town Manager Jason Taylor announced that there was no increase in water rates this year.
Water rates for in-town residents will be $14.86 for the first 2,000 gallons and $4.54 for the next 5,000 gallons. Out of town residents will pay $28.72 for the first 2,000 gallons and $9.76 for the next 5,000 gallons.
Sewer rates also stayed the same as last year’s rates with a base rate of $19.75 and $6.21 for a thousand gallons. Out of town residents will pay a minimum of $31.62 and $9.99 per thousand gallons.
Residents can expect an increase in their other utility fees, however. Minimum electric rates will rise from $10.97 to $11.30. An energy charge for the first 800 KWH will be assessed at $0.16656 and over 800 KWH will be $0.15894.
The entire budget can be viewed on the town’s website at townofwinnsboro.com.
More Town Holidays
Council also discussed bringing the Town’s number of official holidays more in line with those county employees receive. Fairfield County employee currently receive 11 employee holidays. The proposal, if passed, would add President’s Day, Veterans Day, Juneteenth, and Columbus Day, bringing the Town’s number of employee holidays to 15 to match the county’s.
Vacation Accrual
Personnel Director Jennifer Edwards addressed employees’ accrual and roll over of vacation days.
“Part time employees are currently accruing vacation hours towards rollover, but it was never set up that way. Upon the advice of our attorneys, we were told to retract that and put it back to part time with no benefits,” Edwards said.
It was also proposed to increase the number of vacation days an employee can accrue for rollover from the current 240 hours to 360 hours. But upon separation, that maximum payout would be for 240 hours, not 360 hours.
Councilman Demetrius Chatman opposed the change.
“Whatever I roll over, I should be paid the same amount when I leave,” he said. “As a state employee I can roll over a maximum of 45 days. When we leave we get our 45 days.”
Finance Director Kathy Belton weighed in saying, “My thoughts are it should be the 45 days. The amount of vacation time and sick days count toward your retirement in the end.” She added that they should be consistent with state guidelines.
Council voted to table the measure and will discuss it at the next council meeting after Town Manager Jason Taylor brings back numbers to council showing how it will affect the overall budget.
Installing AMI Meters
In the manager’s report Taylor announced that the installation of AMI meters is going smoothly and approximately 550 meters have been installed in the last five weeks.
