Lancaster County committee hears a slate of department budget requests and a new $9.7M fire station estimate

Lancaster County officials and department directors presented budget requests and capital project updates at the Committee of the Whole meeting, covering a wide range of operating increases, new personnel and capital needs and a proposed replacement of the county's core finance and HR software.

County Administrator staff member Mr. Marsdahl opened the budget segment by flagging two issues for council to watch: a request from the Lancaster Water and Sewer District to join an algae-treatment funding consortium (a proposed $30,000 per year commitment for five years) and the county's recent on-duty child fatality that involved firefighters and EMS.

The meeting moved through department presentations that combined routine replacement requests with larger, one-time capital proposals. Lancaster County's 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) as adopted earlier contains 72 projects with an estimated total life-cycle cost of about $358 million (dollars expressed in 2021-level values in the plan). For fiscal 2026 staff compiled a focused list of roughly $44 million in projects already scheduled for the coming year and about $6 million in new project requests submitted during the budget process.

Key public-safety requests and developments

The biggest single new capital figure announced at the meeting was from Chief Nicholson for the Indian Land Consolidated Fire District: a revised estimate of $9.7 million for Fire Station 3 and associated apparatus and FFE (furniture, fixtures and equipment). Nicholson said the estimate reflects updated costs and vendor quotes the district has obtained.

Van Wyck Fire District Chief Craig Rufe asked the council to consider doubling the district's rooftop fee from $90 to $180 to support hiring an additional firefighter; he said that fee increase would primarily fund one additional paid position. Rufe noted the increase would take effect as revenue comes in through the tax billing process and that actual hiring would likely occur after the next full year of fee revenue.

Greater Indian Land Fire asked for multiple hires and a new fire station and an engine to staff it; Chief Nicholson also asked staff to check the summary totals for line-item consistency in the packet. County staff said some numbers shown in printed notebooks had been adjusted in the online packet and that reconciled figures would be provided.

The county's Fire Commission and the fire-rescue director described a phased staffing plan to add 24-hour coverage at McDonald's and future stations. Fire-rescue requested funding for multiple new captains and engineer positions to create 24/7 shifts; staff and administration said the timing for pulling county-funded personnel away from an existing contract with the city would require careful coordination and a formal notice period.

E-911 and radio upgrades

Public safety communications presented a capital request largely focused on completing a countywide TDMA upgrade for radios and interoperability equipment. The 9-1-1 director told council the project would finish needed firmware or key upgrades for every radio in the county and asked for approximately $170,000 to complete the work so units will be compatible by the federally influenced deadline in 2027.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) request

Deputy County Administrator Stephanie Snowden briefed council on a multi-year proposal to replace the county's finance and HR systems with a modern ERP suite. Snowden said the county's current finance software dates to 1998, creates manual workarounds and prevents real-time cross-department reporting. She said staff conducted a vendor review and selected a solution after issuing an RFP; the estimated total cost for implementation across four years is presented as a phased amount in the budget packet.

Snowden and the county's CFO emphasized that the new system is not a routine upgrade but an investment to shorten manual reconciliation tasks, to give department directors faster access to budget and vacancy data and to provide project-management reporting for capital projects.

Rolling-stock and capital replacement (Fund 11)

Finance staff summarized the county capital-replacement fund (Fund 11) and the mill rate that funds it. Fund 11 collects a dedicated millage (the county adopted 6.4 mills for Fund 11 in the prior budget year) to replace vehicles and other large-operating assets. Staff presented scenarios showing how different mill-value and millage assumptions would affect available Fund 11 revenue; those scenarios will be updated when the county auditor certifies the property tax base. Staff noted that, based on current receipts to March 31, the fund balance and revenues are higher than originally budgeted and recommended council consider the Fund 11 list, which includes ambulances, road equipment and fire apparatus.

Roads, building maintenance and solid waste

Public works asked for three additional equipment operator positions and a small upgrade to a road inspector position to support a growing inventory of county roads and preservation work. The division also flagged a one-time drainage project on Craig Avenue in the Arrowood subdivision, where repeated overtopping and erosion have damaged yards; the engineering estimate staff reported to council was roughly $350,000'$400,000 and would require contractual design and utility coordination.

Building maintenance noted staff shortages (three vacancies at the time of the meeting) and requested two maintenance aides, one custodial aide and an administrative assistant to improve preventive maintenance and reporting.

Solid waste asked council to consider funding to open convenience sites more days (Tuesday and Thursday additions were discussed) and to continue a solid-waste study and improvements to convenience-site infrastructure; staff noted that extending hours would require additional part-time attendants and should be phased in.

Library and outreach requests

Lancaster County Library Director Ms. Williams asked council for two personnel additions: an outreach librarian (to run a new bookmobile funded by a Comporium Communications donation) focused on Indian Land and assisted-living visits, and a part-time librarian for the Del Webb branch to meet heavy circulation demand there. Williams also reported growth statistics (more than 47,000 active cardholders and rising digital and print circulation) and emphasized rising demand from older residents and assisted-living facilities for mobile and outreach services.

Delinquent tax and passport office

Delinquent Tax Collector Jennifer Page reviewed tax-sale results and proposed a $25 bidder-registration fee for future tax sales to offset auction and administrative costs; she said the practice is common in other South Carolina counties and estimated the fee could raise roughly $5,600 in a typical year but characterized that estimate as approximate. Page also said passport services generated about $51,000 last fiscal year after postage expenses and that adding a second walk-in day had improved service.

Other notable presentations

- Probate Court Judge Mary Raithle asked for increased mileage and a modest software increase to cover an annual contract and listed training hours and caseload reductions the office has achieved. - The county's public defender, William Frick, asked for one full-time law clerk and two summer clerks and for continued attention to attorney pay scales to improve recruitment and retention. - County Attorney Jenny Merc DuPont requested a modest restoration of $10,000 in operating funds previously realigned for legal research (Westlaw) and said some quasi-judicial bodies such as the Board of Zoning Appeals sometimes require outside counsel because the county attorney may be a party to planning cases. She also walked council through about $131,000 in outside legal invoices recorded so far in the current fiscal year and pointed to ongoing work that will require outside counsel in specialized areas. - The Veterans Affairs director reported ongoing federal and state rulemaking that may create new county-level CVSO grant opportunities and said draft federal regulations could produce new recurring revenue (staff estimated about $50,000 from the federal level as a planning figure and noted a state measure under consideration would fund two full-time county VA positions at roughly $100,000, subject to state action).

Vote recorded

The only formal recorded vote during the excerpted portion of the meeting was routine: council unanimously approved the meeting agenda at the start of the session. The clerk recorded the vote as unanimous; no roll-call tally was entered in the transcript excerpt.

What happens next

Staff will reconcile updated package totals between the printed notebooks and the updated online packet, and the administrator will bring forward a recommended budget in the coming weeks that reflects council direction. Several items flagged for near-term follow-up include the capital replacement (Fund 11) millage scenarios, the CIP list of scheduled and proposed projects for FY 2026, the Indian Land Fire Station 3 revised estimate and the county's ERP vendor pricing and funding plan.

Ending

Council members and staff repeatedly emphasized that several numbers in the printed notebook were updated in the online packet and that staff would provide reconciled figures and a detailed CIP/capital funding picture before final budget adoption. The next formal step in the process is the administrator's recommended budget packet and the council's public hearings and adop