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Kingstree schedules March 21 budget workshop; manager details 2025 grants and capital projects
Summary
Council scheduled a public budget workshop for March 21, 2026. Town Manager Kippton W. Coker reviewed 2025 accomplishments and multiple grants and capital projects — including $2,064,787 federal funding for the 2023 Water Project, CDBG streetscape work, recreation appropriations, and public-safety grants — and warned of a 13% Duke Energy streetlight rate increase that will affect the budget.
The Kingstree Town Council set a public budget workshop for Saturday, March 21, 2026, after Finance Director Merianne Cowley presented possible dates and confirmed department heads are preparing budget worksheets.
Town Manager Kippton W. Coker used his report to summarize the town’s 2025 accomplishments and to detail grant-funded projects and appropriations expected to affect the 2026–27 budget process. He said the 2023 Water Project received $2,064,787 in federal funds and $202,346 in state funding through SCIIP; Phase 1 is complete, Phase 2 was added after the project came in under budget, permitting is underway and construction is scheduled to begin soon.
Coker told council the town secured $250,000 from the SC Department of Commerce for future development planning and another $250,000 for Unity Park, completed in late 2025. He said the CDBG Streetscape Project (about $744,730) finished in spring 2025, and Duke Energy awarded a $5,000 beautification grant and a separate $1,800 grant to buy an AED for town departments.
On recreation, Coker said $500,000 in state appropriations (sponsored by Rep. Roger Kirby) was awarded for baseball field upgrades and the work was awarded to JF Contractors after a Jan. 23, 2026 pre-construction meeting; the town has requested an additional $500,000 for Phase II recreation improvements.
Coker also detailed recent public-safety grants: USDA funding of $95,000 for police radios and $50,000 for fire radios, a VSAFE grant of $14,050 for new SCBA equipment, and an $815,456 state grant to add four school resource officers.
He said the Upper Kingstree Branch Drainage Improvements Project — a $962,195 CDBG grant — is progressing with final easement acquisitions moving through the court system. Coker warned that Duke Energy will increase area and street light rates by 13%, a change the town must account for during budget preparation.
Council did not change any appropriations at the meeting; the March 21 workshop will provide an opportunity for members, staff and the public to review budget priorities and reconcile the effects of new grant awards and utility rate changes.
