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Council questions unbudgeted Christmas bonuses, Santa Land and outside-event payments during FY25 budget review
Summary
Council members pressed finance staff about unplanned expenditures — including a $17,789 staff Christmas event, a $5,672 “Santa Land” event and $8,250 in staff bonuses — and asked staff to clarify outside-event payment timing and the town’s process for outside funding requests before the FY26 budget workshop.
Town of Blythewood council members pressed staff on multiple unbudgeted or over-budget items during a March special call budget workshop, raising questions about who authorized payments for holiday events and how outside-event funding is allocated and recorded.
Finance Director Julie Emery told the council that an “outside agency request” line exceeded its allocation and that bills related to last year’s events — including Juneteenth and the Big Grab — had contributed to the discrepancy. She identified a $1,500 Juneteenth payment and roughly $6,215 in overage tied to the Big Grab, including payments to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
The discussion moved from outside-event accounting to separate holiday-related spending. Council members asked for…
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