Aiken City Council poised to pass budget with no millage increase

Colin Demarest, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

Jun. 12—The Aiken City Council meets Monday night and is expected to pass a budget with no increase in the millage rate, a measure used to calculate local property taxes.

A 7% rate hike on water and sewer services, though, is anticipated.

The city's fiscal year 2021-22 budget and proposed millage rate, 62, were preliminarily approved in May, teeing up Monday's final votes.

Generally speaking, the city's finances are healthy; other municipalities are facing far graver circumstances.

"This budget still has the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but much milder, I believe," City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh wrote in a memo to council members. "Due to council's proactive stance to help small businesses, FY 2020-21 turned out to be positive."

"The past year has seen its share of COVID-19 related challenges," the city manager continued, "but our staff has continued to answer the challenge of working through a pandemic that no one working for the city or serving on its council today has ever seen."

The prospective budget puts an emphasis on the Department of Public Safety, officials have said, making sure its critical needs are funded. The budget includes the addition of a gang investigator and a fire lieutenant, among other things.

City Council's meetings on Monday begin at 5 p.m. with a public work session, at which council members are scheduled to review the fiscal year 2021-22 budget and receive information on the multimillion-dollar Hitchcock Woods stormwater project.

A closed-door executive session will follow the work session and could continue after City Council's regular 7 p.m. meeting. Votes on the Hitchcock Woods stormwater project are expected at the regular meeting, as well.

City Council meets at the downtown Municipal Building, 214 Park Ave. S.W. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on the city's YouTube page, youtube.com/user/CityofAikenSC.