Clinton City Council packed a lot of discussion into a mere 34 minutes on Tuesday, as members gave a zoning matter first reading and received clarity about the proposed $37.2 Million budget.
The FY2026-27 document will need a 10-mil tax increase to balance, but no other increases in utilities and garbage service, along with city fees, were presented.
Council adopted a compromise solution advanced by the Planning Commission the week before on a zoning request by Darlene Summer. Turned down once before because it would have put commercial zoning on Musgrove Street, the idea came back as changing the R-1 single-family designation to R-2 which allows multi-family dwellings, in this case, duplexes.
It is expected to max-out at 21 duplexes and 4 single-family homes, depending on design and site preparation, City Planner Phil Lindler said.
“It was a thorough discussion,” Council Member Danny Smith said at the council’s called meeting and budget workshop. “It was not what the developer recommended, and both sides presented a petition. I would recommend watching it; it was impressive the way they worked it out.”
City Council has to give the matter one more reading, and members were told they could receive a visual before making that vote. The May 7 Planning Commission discussion is considered the one and only Public Hearing needed to advance the project.
R-1 zoning will be designated for the houses facing Musgrove Street, while R-2 could be allowed 115 ft behind those houses on Davidson and Campbell streets. Final plans will come back before the Planning Commission, but not back before the City Council.
Single-family houses there now are in disrepair.
“How many houses are permitted now (citywide)?” Council Member Anita Williams asked. “I’m all for growth, but we have to have the right growth at the right time.”
“The last count we put together was 1,200 (new houses permitted) but the only one under construction now is Shell Creek,” City Manager Joey Meadors said.
Smith pointed out that this is different from what the council has been asked to approve with a PDD (planned district development). “This is a zoning change,” he said. “A couple of hours ago, we got an e-mail from someone on Musgrove (about the matter).”
He said some feedback the City has received is that there is nowhere to rent in Clinton. “These look like duplexes for rent,” Smith said, “and based on the compromise, it looks like a good plan.”
First reading passed 6-1, with Williams voting “no” pending more information.
Related to the budget - final approval of which is envisioned for June 1 - Mayor Pro-tem Danny Cook said the council’s Finance Committee held a productive 2-hour meeting with City staff to hammer out the spending plan. He said, in the future, the committee has asked that the full council receive more information about the requests made by department heads.
“The budget now is do-able. It will do good things for city and it will be challenging at times. We are preparing for contingencies,” Cook said.
Finance Director Carl Stevens said council members had brought him requests to add 3 Police officers, and he said he is working on that for the traffic division. One possible income source is impact fees, paid by housing developers to offset costs incurred by the City when it grows; Stevens said that fee was budgeted for 25 new homes coming on-line, but now the revenue could be expanded to anticipate 75 new homes. The money, and other revenues and grants, could fund the hiring and equipping of 2 new officers.
Mayor Randy Randall said they are needed. “A lot of concerns have been expressed of cars running fast and trucks coming through town. We had a meeting this morning with a citizen (about) can the Police show and do more. We told them we are short on people and they have a better understanding of what we are up against. (Adding traffic officers) hits a lot of the concerns.”
Williams re-stated her long-held belief that the City of Clinton must do better in controlling packs of roaming dogs. Meadors said city officials were to meet the next day with Laurens County Council about what can be done to enhance animal control (that was a May 13 meeting of the council’s Committee on Health & Emergency Services).
Something the council is concerned about is what isn’t being funded in the budget. Cook said the council will be receiving more information about “what could go into the budget and what had to be postponed.”
For the General Fund, there were $1.1 Million in requests from department head and $228,000 was accepted to be budgeted, and for Utilities $1.9 Million was requested and $680,000 was accepted to be budgeted for FY2026-27.
“The departments are asking for legitimate things,” Cook said,” but management has to decide in a priority order. Next year, we will hear what is asked for and what is funded.”
“It shows that it’s not fluff things, it’s things we really need to operate well,” Randall said. “It shows how difficult it is to get what we need and keep the budget balanced.” “Much of our equipment is older,” Meadors added, “and they are showing repair bills.”
