ST. MATTHEWS - Calhoun County's efforts to construct a new spec or inventory building to attract industry seemed pretty hopeless in the midst of the turbulent economic times. An application for a Red Leg (Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had been submitted and then withdrawn.

But after an apparent breakdown in communications within the federal bureaucracy, lo and behold, the county has been awarded a $300,000 grant and a $648,000 loan for the project at the Interstate 26 Industrial Park across from the Starbucks facility. That's "$948,000 of zero interest" for 10 years, with a deferred payment for two years, Chad Lowder, Tri-County Electric Co-Op's manager of member services, told county council Monday.

With an extra $200,000 from Central Carolina Economic Development Alliance and some matching funds from Tri-County, Lowder said there should be between $1.3 million and $1.5 million available for a 50,000-square-foot expandable spec building.

According to Lowder, the federal government is holding the check, pending the go-ahead. Should the county accept the money but find out later during the environmental studies and the bidding process that the project is too costly, the money can still be declined, he said.

"They won't write the check until we show them the budget for the building and where the shortfalls will come from," Lowder said. "We can do the preliminaries and see if it's a viable project. If we can't do it for $1.5 million, then it's not viable and we'll stop it there."

Council agreed to move forward with the project.

Noting that Orangeburg County has made similar investments, Lowder said that it's good to have inventory to show prospective investors.

"The problem is the economy. We hope it turns around in a two-year time frame," he said. "Zero interest is the only benefit to us."

Also, Lowder said, the county has a Class A industrial park with good infrastructure in the best location.

County Administrator Lee Prickett said the plan would be to sell the spec or inventory building within the two-year period, before the loan is due.

"That's the dilemma. It's money we backed off of one time, but it showed up anyway," he said. "The only concern I have - the real issue - is if you can sell the building in two years with the economy. Interest is low, but very few people get 0 percent. Early on, we decided to wait."

Council Chairman David Summers called the issue "a crap shoot."

Prickett also informed council that the House Ways and Means Committee had just voted to cut $122 million out of the local government fund. That would mean, he said, a cut of $384,046, or seven mills, for Calhoun County.

"We'll have to make that up if it holds. It's substantial," Prickett said. "But once it gets cut out in Columbia, it tends to stay out."

Those state cuts will be taken into consideration, Summers said, when the council looks at budget appropriations for state agencies in the county.

"None of them (state lawmakers) have read what they're doing - it's like in Washington," Summers said. "No one reads anything. They're not paying attention to what they're doing."

After Prickett stressed that local Ways and Means member Rep. Harry Ott (as well as Orangeburg Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter) voted against the cuts, Summers conceded that the problem is with his own political party.

"I run on the Republican ticket, and that's where the problem is - the Republicans," he said. "They had money built up in the reserve fund and they gave tax cuts and now there's no money. It's time for them to smarten up up there."

In other business, council:

* Gave first reading, by title only, to an ordinance to modify the Fire Commission membership to include representation from the municipalities and to eliminate alternates.

Council also appointed Russ Middleton from the Cameron Fire Department to the commission.

* Gave final third reading to an ordinance to include the Lexington County property, CMC Steel of South Carolina, in the joint Lexington-Calhoun Multicounty Industrial Park.

Under the state economic development incentive, Calhoun will get 1 percent of fees generated by the investments, while Lexington County will get 99 percent.

* After receiving an update from architect West Summers, gave the go-ahead to proceed with the final specifications and opening of bids for the new county services site at U.S. Highways 21 and 176 in the Sandy Run area.

The Emergency Medical Services building has been reduced in scope by 20 percent, from the original 8,000 square feet to 6,500 square feet. At the same time, the other building on the site, which will house a magistrate's office, a sheriff's office and the water department, will be increased by 20 percent, to 4,000 square feet instead of 3,000 square feet.

In addition, room is left for a helicopter pad.

According to the architect, bids should go out by early May and the project should be finished by this time next year.

Also, the administrator noted that a similar EMS facility may be planned for the lower part of the county.

* Received as information, a report from outside auditor Lori Salley of McGregor and Company. The document presented was an "unqualified opinion. A clean opinion; the best you can get."

According to audit figures, the county has total net assets of $25.7 million, including capital assets. The total operating fund is $7.39 million, with a net income of $570,446.

* Referred to the Road Committee, a request for road maintenance from Benjamin Riley of Seawright Circle. The Sandy Run area road is listed as a private road that has not been county maintained.

* Agreed to the request of Fire Commission Chairman Randy Coleman to allow firefighters to make improvements on county property used as a training facility. The commission wants to expand the existing pad, add a carport building and move a hydrant.

* Agreed to the proposal of Palmetto Posting Company, at a rate of $25 an hour plus travel, to train delinquent tax office staff in the increasingly complicated and time consuming work.

* Agreed to pay Kelley Communications $2,250 from contingency for a new repeater antenna in the Sandy Run area.

* Agreed to pay $4,293 to replace a wastewater treatment blower.

* Agreed to AT&T's request for franchise authority in the Sandy Run area. The county will charge 5 percent.

* Approved two change orders for the Fort Motte Community Center. With enough money on hand, council agreed to provide the storage and office area for a sheriff's substation, as originally planned, for $14,850 and to provide sturdier laminated wood floors at a cost of $2,200.

* Approved out-of-state travel for the county administrator and Councilwoman Helen Carson, who will be going to Washington, D.C. later this week to provide input on the request for a new Interstate 26 interchange.

T&D Government Writer Tucker Lyon can be reached by e-mail at tlyon@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5545. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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