West Columbia council gives second reading to FY2026 budget with slight millage cut; approves code updates, rezonings, water-plant chemical contracts and pre-qs

The City of West Columbia City Council unanimously approved several measures during its meeting, including the second reading of the fiscal year 2026 budget ordinance, a supplement to the city code of ordinances, two rezonings, water-plant chemical contracts and the prequalification of contractors for a roadway improvement project. The council then voted unanimously to enter an executive session to discuss pending litigation with the Town of Lexington under South Carolina law.

Presiding official opened the council's unfinished-business agenda with item 8.1, calling for second reading of “an ordinance of the City of West Columbia enacting a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 2025.” The presiding official said, “there is no millage increase associated with this,” and added, “we were able to balance the budget without it. And there's actually a little bit of a millage reduction.” Council members raised no objections, and the ordinance received unanimous second-reading approval.

The council then gave unanimous second-reading approval to item 8.2, a proposed supplement to the City of West Columbia Code of Ordinances. No discussion was recorded before the vote.

On land-use matters, the council approved two planning-commission recommendations on second reading. Item 8.3 rezoned a 0.43-acre parcel at 1704 Augusta Road (tax map number 004641-02-001) from C-2 General Commercial/R-2 Residential to C-2 General Commercial. Item 8.4 rezoned a 0.48-acre parcel at 1083 Harbor Drive (tax map number 004597-04-002) to C-2 General Commercial. Both measures were approved on second reading unanimously.

In procurement actions, the council approved item 9.1 to award chemical contracts to the lowest responsive, responsible bidders for the Lake Murray and Riverside water treatment plants. The presiding official asked for questions directed to “Mister Zangle”; none were raised and the motion passed unanimously.

The council also approved item 9.2 to prequalify contractors for the Meeting Street roadway improvement project; the motion passed unanimously after staff (identified in the meeting as “Miss Greenwood”) answered no follow-up questions.

Before adjourning into executive session, the presiding official asked for a motion to move into executive session “for purposes of discussions of legal matters concerning a lawsuit with the Town of Lexington pursuant to South Carolina Code Annotated 30-4-70(a)(2).” The motion and second carried unanimously. The presiding official said members may take action after reconvening: “We may take action when we come back out. We may.”

Votes at a glance: the council gave unanimous second-reading approval to the FY2026 budget ordinance (item 8.1); unanimous second-reading approval to the code supplement (item 8.2); unanimous second-reading approval for rezoning at 1704 Augusta Road (item 8.3); unanimous second-reading approval for rezoning at 1083 Harbor Drive (item 8.4); unanimous approval to award chemical contracts for Lake Murray and Riverside water treatment plants to the lowest responsive, responsible bidders (item 9.1); and unanimous approval to prequalify contractors for the Meeting Street roadway improvement project (item 9.2). The council voted unanimously to enter executive session to discuss litigation with the Town of Lexington under S.C. Code Ann. §30-4-70(a)(2).

The meeting record shows no public comments or extended debate on the listed items. Several approvals were taken after staff presentations or after council members asked if there were questions; in each case no substantive discussion or dissent was recorded on the public minutes available in the transcript.

The council's actions on the budget and code supplement were taken on second reading; the transcript does not specify whether the budget ordinance will take final effect immediately or on a specified effective date beyond the captioned fiscal year beginning July 2025.