Thank you for the opportunity to discuss my candidacy for Chairman of the Aiken County Council with the members of the North Augusta 20/20 community. North Augusta is fortunate to have this forum for the discussion of topics of local concern.

I’m a candidate for Chairma...

The Aiken County Council’s mid-year budget amendments are usually non-controversial. They primarily re-budget revenues and expenditures on contracts and purchases orders carried over from the prior fiscal year. Other small housekeeping measures are frequently included.

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Aiken County Human Resource Director Gayle Wolman’s recent presentation on county employee health benefits sent mixed messages. Speaking at the County Council work session on Oct. 18, she pointed out that the county’s new benefits system saved money this year and is po...

Aiken County’s Fiscal Year 2016 end of year financial report paints a mixed picture. While the combined balance across all funds grew roughly $20 million during the fiscal year that ended on June 30 – a healthy increase by any measure – the financial path forward remai...

The Aiken County Council punted on the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 budget last Tuesday night. Though Council approved a balanced budget, little was done to resolve the ongoing fiscal gap between operational expenses and recurring revenues.

But first the good news: Council did...

The Aiken County “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” for the year ending June 30, 2015, demonstrated improvements over last year’s report.

Recall that last year’s Aiken County “Financial and Compliance Report” for the year ending June 30, 2014, found serious materia...

AGY’s announcement that its Wagener Road plant will add 80 new jobs within the next five years is good news. Given Aiken County’s anemic economic performance in recent years, this small addition to the local manufacturing base is a welcome development.

As detailed in th...

On Nov. 12 the Aiken County Republican Party Executive Committee approved a resolution opposing refugee resettlement in Aiken County.

Passed unanimously, the resolution predated the Paris massacre by a day and the Mali massacre by a week. It states that the “resettlemen...

As of June 30, Aiken County had $37.8 million in outstanding general obligation bonds. What is this debt for? Is it growing or shrinking? And is it large or small in relative terms?

There are several ways to grasp the magnitude of this sum.

The first and most obvious mea...