Cash flow

The  divide between Spartanburg county council and parks and recreation

MAY 9, 2011 11:25 a.m. (0)

A dispute between Spartanburg County Council and the recreation department comes down to either a failure to come through on expected projects or a failure to communicate accurately the department’s intentions, officials said recently.

County council ordered a recreation department audit in April and voted to amend the ordinance creating the recreation commission in a move that would bring the department under the supervision of County Administrator Glenn Breed. The recreation commission would remain to handle run-of-the-mill issues.

Council Chairman Jeff Horton said the county’s issues with how the recreation department is run stem mainly from a lack of progress on big-ticket projects like Va-  Continue reading...

 

Conservatives want to get the tea party started

Spartanburg tea party focuses on county

JUNE 23, 2011 9:58 a.m. (1)

The Spartanburg Tea Party has turned its attention to the local scene, bringing its grand experiment in smaller government and lower taxes to the county level in a way that even conservative Spartanburg has never seen before, observers say.

In Spartanburg County employees have not had a raise in five years and yet council, with hearty tea party applause, has passed a tax cut for the next fiscal year.

“The last real tax increase we had in my 17 years on council was the road use fee,” said council Chairman Jeff Horton. “But I don’t think the tea party has that much influence with the council itself. We’re a pretty conservative bunch, overall.”  Continue reading...

 

County Council spending

Audit reveals more questions

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 7:54 a.m. (0)

More than $3.5 million was transferred from an account at the Spartanburg County Jail designated for building a new detention facility and used to balance the county’s budget without county council’s knowledge, officials confirmed to the Journal this week.

“When I took over the jail and started looking over the books I found about $200,000 in one account that should have had about $4 million in it,” Sheriff Chuck Wright said.

The money came largely from payments for housing federal prisoners, inmate canteen receipts and a few other sources, Wright said.  Continue reading...