The Municipal Association has three Advocacy
Initiatives for 2019, developed with the input of hundreds of
municipal officials during the 2018 Regional Advocacy Meetings:
- Update the Local
Government Fund formula to guarantee a reliable funding level
that is fair to cities and towns of all sizes. The LGF brought stable
revenue to cities and towns four a couple of decades leading up to the
Great Recession, but has provided reduced revenue and unpredictable changes
since then. In this session, a bipartisan group of House members are
sponsoring H3137
to tackle this issue. This bill would require the LGF to increase each
fiscal year by the same percentage that the state general fund is
projected to increase, not to exceed five percent compared to the amount
in the current fiscal year.
- Expand flexibility for using accommodations
and hospitality
taxes to allow expenditures for infrastructure in
tourist-related areas. Bills have been introduced in the House and
Senate addressing this: H3132
and S217.
These types of tax revenue can be used for tourism-related expenditures, including
advertising, building and maintaining cultural facilities and providing
necessary city services for tourists and tourist facilities. Both of these
bills add tourism-related site preparation, as well as flooding control
and drainage for tourism-related areas, to the list of acceptable
expenditures.
- Reduce the wait time for local law
enforcement hires to be admitted to the Criminal Justice Academy. Keeping
police rosters filled is a key
need for law enforcement agencies in South Carolina, and one
which requires as much efficiency in graduating officers from the Academy
as possible. By supporting the Criminal Justice Academy’s funding request,
and supporting the effort to move the Academy off of unreliable fines and
fee assessments to a more reliable, recurring source, the Association is
also supporting an increase in Academy capacity that will result in much
shorter wait times.
Cities and towns can’t push for legislative action unless
they’ve cultivated relationships with their delegation. A recent
Uptown article highlighted
the ways local officials can get these relationships up and running, and what
they should know about advocating for their needs effectively.