Loading ...
Applebee’s Breakfast with Santa
Come on out to the Applebee’s Breakfast with Santa on December 12 from 7:30 am- 9:30 am. Proceeds benefit Safe Kids of Oconee County.
Who: Santa!!
Where: Applebee’s on Hwy 123, Seneca SC
When: December 12, 2009 7:30 am- 9: 30 am
Why: to benefit Safe Kids
Cost: Adults $7.00 Children (12 & under) $4.00
Please call 864. 885. 7912 for tickets.
Oconee County tool manufacturer expanding, adding 85 jobs
Up to 85 jobs could come to Oconee County as a result of an expansion of a local company that makes drill bits, officials announced today.
Greenfield Industries Inc. plans to invest $18 million over the next five years in its Seneca plant, including the addition of 50,000 square feet of space, officials said.
The move will allow the company to consolidate some operations and bring a North American distribution center to the county, where the unemployment rate in the current recession has been over 14 percent, three points higher than the state level. Read more
Live here, pay 75% more
in Oconee County are almost 66 percent higher per person than in all of South Carolina and are markedly higher than county’s with similar populations.
The numbers are part of a state financial analysis
requested by state Sen. Thomas Alexander, a copy of which has been obtained by The Journal.
The South Carolina Budget and Control Board’s Office of Research and Statistics compiled the information for Alexander, who represents Oconee and portions of Pickens County. Although taxes are not paid on a per person basis, the analysis compares Oconee with six other counties and the state on a population basis.
The study’s results are telling in light of the recent debate over taxing and spending in Oconee.
What it shows is that, per person, the county collected $438 for every man, woman and child in fiscal 2008, or $175 more than what property owners paid per person statewide.
The report, dated Oct. 29, clearly shows Oconee standing head and shoulders higher in property taxes collected per person over six other counties with comparable populations.
Oconee County Council Chairman Reg Dexter said Wednesday that the comparison does not tell the whole story.
Dexter said some of the counties Oconee is compared to own their own utilities and can increase water and electricity bills
for revenue.
“We don’t have that luxury,” Dexter said, declining further comment.
Tax data in the report covers a six-year span from fiscal 2002 through fiscal 2008 during which Oconee consistently exceeded statewide per person property tax collections.
Alexander said this week that he requested the information from the state agency. He said the data is a good informational tool that better equips him to answer constituents’ questions because it compares Oconee with other counties. Read more