Sangaree Connection

Every three months the Sangaree Special Tax District holds an Advisory Commission Meeting that is open to the residents of Sangaree and the general public. These meetings are held in the meeting room of the Berkeley County Library located in at 595 Sangaree Parkway in Sangaree at 7:30 p.m.

Meeting date: February 12, 2008

Meeting Synopsis…

Baseball practice
Baseball coaches and interested parties discuss the use of green spaces throughout Sangaree. Some residents have complained about noise, trash and parking from parents and children while practicing. Coaches have used these green spaces for years. Yet do to residential complaints and the fact that most of the properties in the green spaces are privately owned some areas may be off limits to the coaches and children who plan to practice this spring.

Playgrounds
Setting up playgrounds and walking paths in the open green spaces was also discussed. New basketball hoops will be installed on the court behind Pierre Ct.

Quick note
Most of the green spaces throughout Sangaree do not belong to the Sangaree Special Tax District. The tax district doses maintain these areas and have done so for years but the property is privately owned. Therefore the tax district cannot build anything on these properties.

Police
It was decided that an off duty Berkeley County police officer will be hired to patrol Sangaree and stay within the tax district boundaries.

Crime Watch
Sangaree’s crime watch was mentioned. The crime watch has come to a standstill, according to one resident. The Sangaree resident then showed an interest in taking over and revitalizing the crime watch.

Fire truck
Sangaree’s has acquired a fire truck that is now located in Sangaree. It’s stationed behind the Texaco truck stop off the Sangaree parkway.

Thermal Imaging Camera
Last year a fund raising was held to raise money for a Thermal Imaging Camera for the C&B Fire Department. The Sangaree Special Tax District matched the amount raised allowing C&B to purchase the Thermal Imaging Camera.

I promised to let you all know when the Sangaree Special Tax District Commission meeting, originally scheduled for August 7, would take place. The meeting for August 7 was canceled due to the conflict with the National Night Out Community Party.

I contacted the Sangaree Special Tax District offices, and per the General Manager, the meeting will not be re-scheduled. The next meeting will be November 6, 2007.

I have just received word that the Sangaree Special Tax District Commission meeting scheduled for this meeting was canceled yesterday. It has not yet been re-scheduled. When I receive word on when the meeting will be, I will let you know.

Also, the National Night Out event is TONIGHT! It is being held in the field next to the library and starts at 5:30 p.m. Please stop by for a fun party and get to know your neighbors. If you can bring any food, the organizers would appreciate it. They can use: hamburger/hot dog buns, desserts, potato chips and other snacks, etc.

Thank you for your support! I’ll see you tonight!

Dear Resident,

My name is Marty Richard, I am a Commissioner for the Sangaree Special Tax District. Unbeknownst to most Sangaree residents, I have been heading up an effort with the commission to improve the response time of our first responders/fire department in Sangaree in conjunction with getting our Administration Staff at the SSTD into a new building. It has been the plan to try to house a fire engine in the same location as the new staff building to reduce cost, especially since land in Sangaree is hard to come
by.

Now there has been a lot of discussion about taxes going up and why.

Here is the situation: taxes are going up. Operational cost at the district have increased, and the past taxation policy had not been collecting enough taxes to balance the budget. Instead, the SSTD had been using monies out of the savings to make up the difference while allowing the residents to enjoy lower taxes.

Because we want to improve fire services (by providing the fire department with a location in Sangaree) install playgrounds, put our administration staff in a new building, and be able to plan for increases in the next garbage contract and fuel surcharges - taxes must increase. Most importantly, to balance the budget we have to go up on millage.

Bare minimum we can’t spend more than we are collecting. Please understand that even if the SSTD were to provide no additional services, no playgrounds, fire service, etc. taxes would still have to go up at least 10 mills to balance the budget.

As far as the new building, the SSTD has outgrown its current 20 year old steel building and direly needs to upgrade, it only has one bathroom and is not large enough for the number of employees we now have. At the same time understand we have put in to place goals for productivity in the community and plan to put in new playgrounds along with other improvements within Sangaree.

I, along with the other four Commissioners, are all tax payers right here in Sangaree and we want to see our money, everyone’s money, put to good use as well. In order to see this good use we have set time lines for parks and playgrounds to be put into place, along with a timeline mandate of no more than 3 years before a new administration building is built.

I would like to thank everyone who has asked questions and if you have more please feel free to contact the SSTD and ask how you can get in touch with your SSTD Commissioner, or email me at firefighter3strong@yahoo.com.

Thank you again.

Commissioner Marty Richard

The news about the Sangaree tax increase has been in the media recently:

• Post & Courier
• Live 5 News - audio may not work.

SSTD Commissioner Marty Richard also sent a message to the Sangaree residents about the tax increase that tells the full story, as well as the tax districts plans for the future.