Berkeley County Finance Committee approves Q1 report, transfers and a package of discretionary grants

The Berkeley County Finance Committee and full council, meeting in November, accepted the county's FY2026 first‑quarter financial report and approved a series of budget transfers and discretionary funding requests.

Finance presenter Alan Milburn, speaking for the county operations report, said revenues were about $10,000,000 through Sept. 30 — roughly $2,000,000 higher than the same period last year — and noted that impact fees have increased by about $1,900,000 year‑over‑year. Milburn reported impact‑fee collections at about $4,400,000 (about 43% of the budgeted amount) and said expenses were below budget at approximately 17% spent with 25% of the fiscal year elapsed, concluding, "Everything looks good."

Following the report, the committee moved and the council approved several items by voice vote: acceptance of the Q1 report; a December 1 time disbursement for staff; a $35,000 transfer from the general fund balance (approved for unspecified staff or program uses earlier in the agenda and later allocated to the coroner's budget for the opioid fatality review board); and an authorization to purchase equipment for maintenance of approximately 628 acres at Blessing Plantation, not to exceed $150,000, to be funded from the greenbelt fund (the record notes the fund source correction during the meeting).

Council also combined multiple fee discretionary funding requests (items a–o) and approved a package that included: up to $97,400 for the Overton Civic Club (to upfit a facility, funded $48,700 each from Supervisor Johnny P. Cribb and Councilman Marshall West), $1,500 to the Saint Stephen American Legion Hut for flags, $30,000 for Feed Berkeley (six council members/supervisor each contributing $5,000), $15,000 for prison outreach programming, up to $25,807.92 for Hearts of Hughey park equipment (split between supervisors), $10,000 for Helping Hands of Goose Creek, and smaller traffic‑calming and program reallocations listed in the agenda packet.

A motion to postpone authorization to settle Cedar Hill was approved and a separate authorization related to SCDOT v. CSX condemnation included a direction allowing the supervisor to execute a sale for $1,750,000 with funds coming from the 1¢ sales tax; that motion carried.

The meeting record shows motions and voice votes for each item; individual roll‑call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.

The committee referred several first‑reading items to committee (including an opioid fund advisory committee ordinance and fee‑in‑lieu agreements), and the council advanced and approved routine ordinance readings and budget measures later in the meeting.

Next procedural steps: several items (notably the Cedar Hill settlement) were postponed for further consideration; bills read for first reading were sent to the relevant committees for more detailed review.