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By Jay King
HOMETOWN NEWS
The Spartanburg County Council decided during a personnel and finance committee meeting on Monday to kill a proposed ordinance that would have allowed the county to designate fund-
ing from the hospitality tax to fund community-based
organizations like the Arts Partnership and the Spart-anburg County Regional Museum.
After Assistant County Administrator Tom Gates briefed council on the proposed ordinance and its language, the council members were quick off the mark to voice concerns about the precedent it would set for the future.
Councilman O’Neal Mintz said that every one on the council had taken a lot of heat for passing the hospitality tax in the first place and that if he had known at the outset that the council would be contemplating dipping into the revenue to fund things other than parks and recreation projects he would not have supported it.
“We took a lot of heat because we all thought it was the right thing to do,” Mintz said.
Personnel and Finance Committee Chairman Dale
Culbreth said he would not have a problem with ensuring that the measure was a one-time-only measure but had serious reservations about the precedent it
sets for future councils.
Councilman David Britt said that any time the council makes financial decisions affecting taxes it’s pre-
cedent setting.
“I think we’ll be heading in the wrong direction if we change this to remove funding from parks and recreation,” Britt said. “I can’t vote today at 5:30 to take this money from them. Where does it stop?”
Each member of council addressed some kind of concern over opening up the hospitality tax to fund things other than parks and recreation projects.
With support for the move gone, the measure died in committee. Gates said that the administration staff would revisit the county’s options to achieve the same results the move could have meant for next year’s budget and would present those at the council’s December meeting.
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