Third District County Councilman Paul Cain Comments On Tax Millage Increase on Coffee Time program

(Seneca, SC)————————-As 94.1 The Lake reported last week, Oconee County taxpayers will see an increase in their tax bills for real and personal property when those notices are mailed in October due to a 5.9 mill increase.

Third District Oconee County Councilman Paul Cain discussed the millage increase during his appearance on the Coffee Time program last week, especially as the millage increase pertains to the County’s vehicle replacement program as well as pay raises for County employees.

“A lot of times when a council comes into office, or when members of council come into office, you inheit the good things that prior council’s did. And then, you inherit the cans that they have been kicking down the road for, in some cases, for decades,” says Councilman Cain. “Specifically, our capital equipment and vehicle replacement plan was not properly funded.”

“We realized that if we continued the status quo, the problem was not going to get better with time,” according to Councilman Cain. “If you underfund something, the underfunding grows, so as the cost of things increase, if you are still funding it at the same level, you have potentially a greater shortfall each year and at a certain point, it becomes extremely unsubstanable.”

Cain said that public safety equipment needed to be funded as well as making sure that equipment used by the County Roads and Bridges Department is safe for those employees to use.

Cain said that the pay raises reflect the facts of a good economy and a tight labor market so he feels that Council had to respond to those conditions as well as making sure that County employees are well compensated to help with job retention.