Berkeley Budget: Special Meeting Expected to Salvage County Services

Berkeley County Council members will hold a special meeting Friday morning to take another shot at the '12-'13 budget, or at least take a vote to provide temporary funding for county services.

The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in the Supervisor's Conference Room, 1003 Hwy 52 in Moncks Corner.

On Monday, a dispute over funding for the Trident Technical College ended in a 5-3 vote opposing the final approval of the budget. The school was owed more than $441,000 as part of an agreement made between the county and the school.

But the money had not been included in the budget. Councilman Tim Callanan tried unsuccessfully to use money from the county's savings to make good on that commitment.

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When that effort failed, Callanan and others supporting the Tech spending voted against the budget. Other votes against the budget included council members Phillip Farley, Cathy Davis, Dennis Fish and Steve Davis.  

Steve Davis had proposed a separate amendment to raise taxes to pay for the Trident Tech bill, but that also failed to win approval from the body. He told Live 5 News on Wednesday that he has reconsidered his "no" vote on the budget.

Steve Davis' reconsideration, with a likely tie-breaking vote from county Supervisor Dan Davis, would assure approval.

If the budget isn't approved Friday, the council would be asked to approve a separate resolution to continue temporarily funding county services until a new budget can be drafted and approved.

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