Council to consider proposed tax grants

Assistant clerk of court to be sworn into Municipal Court

Simpsonville, S.C. — Simpsonville City Council will consider at its business meeting on Tuesday proposed tax grants for tourism-related projects inside the city limits.

Based on recommendations from the Local Accommodations Tax Committee, City staff presented to Council in January a packaged proposal for distributing more than $150,000 in grants funded by the local accommodations tax. State law requires municipalities like the City of Simpsonville to collect an accommodations tax from hotels, bed and breakfasts and other lodging facilities that is distributed back to cities and counties for tourism-related spending by a formula based on the point of sale.

Local groups and organizations, including the City, can apply for tax grants to fund projects that meet grant criteria. State law mandates that accommodations tax funds must be used to attract and cater to tourists.

Council voted 7-0 at the January Committee of the Whole meeting to advance the proposed package as presented by City Administrator Dianna Gracely to the agenda for the February business meeting. Gracely said the City saw a decrease in proceeds in 2020 from the state accommodations tax due to the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When the Committee met, we looked at where we could reduce some of the requests so that the events could still happen and organizations would still have what they need," Gracely said, referring to the grant applications by the eight different organizations. "Those recommendations were based on not only available funding for this cycle but also what they requested in terms of reimbursement in the past. We believe that it's an equitable distribution of those funds and that everyone will still be able to hold successful events with the recommendations before you."

Applicants for Simpsonville accommodations tax grants are the City of Simpsonville, Simpsonville Area Chamber of Commerce, Simpsonville Arts Foundation, Simpsonville Garden Club and South Greenville Fair. The Local Accommodations Tax Committee met in December to review the requests to make recommendations to Council and staff.

Notable projects for which the City applied for grants are Celebrate Simpsonville, renovations to Hendricks Pavilion and Simpsonville Summer Music Series & Food Truck Rodeo.

The meeting on Tuesday will be held via an online meeting service to be live streamed on the City of Simpsonville YouTube Channel, per the latest emergency ordinance adopted by Council in January to help prevent the spread of the virus.

An additional item on the agenda is the appointment of Kimber Strong as ministerial recorder, or associate judge, for Simpsonville Municipal Court. Strong currently serves as the assistant clerk of court by assisting Clerk of Court and Administrative Judge Ashley Clark in court proceedings and processing tickets.

The appointment as associate judge would authorize Strong to hold arraignments and bond hearings, sign warrants and step into the role of administrative judge when the Honorable Judge Clark is unavailable. Staffing both an administrative judge and ministerial recorder will ensure a smooth continuation of Simpsonville Municipal Court proceedings.

Also on the agenda for Tuesday are a presentation of the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority action plan by Program Director Imma Nwobodu; resolution for Community Development Block Grant funds; and designation of ECM Solutions as the City's insurance broker.