Council Oks Referendum Changes, ACTC Roads Funding Plan

Story corrected to reflect EMS Priority 1 times as Nine Minutes, 59 seconds.

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson County Council gave final approval to amending the November referendum asking voters for a one-penny sales tax to fund road/bridge repair and maintenance to exclude prepared foods from the tax.

“Anderson County and its staff have done a great deal of work over the last 18 months on Anderson County Roads Study and Anderson County Bridge Study,” said County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn. “This is now for the people to vote, ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

If approved, the one-penny tax would provide approximately $35 million per year to repair the county’s 1,574 miles of roads and repair and maintain the 162 county bridges. The cost of repairing one mile of road is $1 million and bridge repair can be more expensive. Anderson County has never fully funded road/bridge maintenance, leading to nearly 40 percent of the county-owned roads in poor or failing conditions.

Current funding is provided by the state through the Anderson County Transportation Committee. On Tuesday, council approved using the $6 million from ACTC and $600,000 in county funding to repair 17 roads.

The roads on the list for repair are: Branchwood Lane, Cedar Springs, Cardinal Springs, Old Mill, Rogers Road, Thompson Road, Firetower Road, Refuge Road and Von Hollen Road.

Also on Tuesday, council approved changes to response times for Priority 2, non-emergent, non-life-threatening calls to the Anderson County EMS system. These response vehicles do not use sirens or emergency lights and require longer response times. The new contract calls for response times of less than 16 minutes, 59 seconds, up from less than 12 minutes, 59 seconds under the current contract. Priority 1 emergency calls will still seek to be answered in less than nine minutes 59 seconds.

And council approved grant funding for the Green Pond Landing Amphitheater Power & Lighting Project with total project costs not to exceed $300,000. For this project, the maximum grant program reimbursement is 50 percent of eligible costs up to and not to exceed $150,000 wherein the matching funds will originate from the Anderson County Accommodation Tax Fees.

The new power system will increase the potential for more entertainment programs at the Green Pond amphitheater.

Anderson County Council Vice Chairman recapped the meeting for the Anderson Observer.