County likely to boost funding for Famously Hot New Year
Columbia’s Famously Hot New Year celebration could get an extra $75,000 from Richland County after County Council gave initial approval to the funds Tuesday night.
Council gave the event $11,000 in hospitality and accommodations tax money during the county’s budget process earlier this year. Organizers had asked for $100,000.
Councilwoman Julie-Ann Dixon asked last month that the event get an additional $89,000 to bring the funding up to the previous year’s level.
But a council committee bumped down that recommendation to $75,000, for a total of $89,000. The committee recommends the additional $75,000 be taken from the county’s hospitality tax fund balance, which currently sits at around $10.7 million, according to county finance director Daniel Driggers.
Most of the money in the hospitality tax fund balance is already committed to long-term projects, including a water park in the northeast and a sports complex on Bluff Road.
In its original budget process, council awarded $4,000 in hospitality tax funding and $7,000 in accommodations tax funding for Famously Hot New Year, which will hold its fifth annual event on Main Street on Dec. 31.
“We had an opportunity to fund this project during our budget cycle, but council voted not to (fully) fund the project,” Councilman Greg Pearce said Tuesday. He, along with councilmen Bill Malinowski, Seth Rose and Torrey Rush voted against the additional $75,000 for the event. “What the money’s going for is worthwhile, but ... we should not be going into reserves to be doing this.”
The county’s hospitality tax is a 2 percent tax on prepared meals and is dedicated to funding tourism projects, such as Famously Hot New Year.
The city of Columbia has spent $130,000 of its own hospitality tax funds for the event both this year and last year.
Reach Ellis at (803) 771-8307.
Flood relief continues at Lower Richland Operations Center
Existing Richland County personnel and volunteers are continuing the flood relief efforts at the Lower Richland Operations Center and distribution warehouse, county administrator Tony McDonald told County Council on Tuesday.
After council rejected a no-bid, five-month contract that would have paid a consulting group nearly $1 million to staff the operations center, county staff made “several attempts” to negotiate an alternative 30-day agreement with Abraham Turner’s AT Consulting, McDonald said.
Turner and the county could not agree on terms, however, McDonald said.
The same work that was being done previously under Turner’s direction has since been continued by county personnel and volunteers, the only difference being that the operations center and warehouse are no longer open 24 hours a day.
This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 12:06 AM with the headline "County likely to boost funding for Famously Hot New Year."