Conway nearing $85M budget, likely double-digit tax hike coming

CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) — Conway city leaders on Monday gave early approval to an $85 million spending plan for next year that would bump property taxes up by 16%.

Councilman William Goldfinch said the hike is necessary to keep pace with cost of living for city employees.

“I have had some folks reach out with concerns inquiring as to, ‘WIlliam, why are you raising my taxes,'” Goldfinch said. “And the reality is that the only mechanism that the city of Conway has to pay its employees as costs go up, as groceries go up, as everything goes up, is to increase taxes as well.”

The proposed 2024-25 budget, which takes affect July 1, is a 9% uptick from current year spending levels and includes a 3.9% salary increase for Conway workers.

The millage will come back to the city in August once county officials have calculated reassessment information.

“It’s a tax increase based on the fact that our police officers and all of our employees deserve earn a working wage, and the only way to do it is to increase our millage, especially in a reassessment year,” Goldfinch said.

A public hearing is expected in the next couple of weeks before a final vote to approve the budget.

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Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13 . She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13’s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylor’s work here .

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