LEE COUNTY, S.C. — Lifelong Lee County Resident Jessie Hickmon said he has seen his community shrink throughout the years.
"I'm looking for the day to come that they put more housing and new housing and there will be more people," said Hickmon.
According to Census data, Lee County's population declined 14 percent from 2010 to 2020.
"It's hard to generate new revenue for new projects when you're trying to take care of basic recurring costs," said Lee County administrator Alan Watkins.
This is why the General Assembly created the Rural County Stabilization Fund. The $12 million pot of money is split between 28 counties.
Any counties that have experienced population growth less than 5.35 percent are eligible to receive money.
Watkins explained Lee County is using this years $380,000 in funding to improve downtown and the quality of life for residents.
"There were two old dilapidated buildings we’ve removed. We've got an architect doing a design for reclaiming that building from vegetation and hopefully turning it into an outdoor events venue.”
According to Census data, Fairfield County lost 12% of their population from 2010 to 2020. Synithia Williams said the county is getting about $350,000 from the fund this year.
"We're looking at doing several studies, we're looking at doing a Land Development Study and also a housing study. Both of those will help us update our zoning ordinance," said Williams.
"We don't want to be scrambling to get our ordinances together. We don't want to be scrambling to know where housing should go. Let's go ahead and prepare for that now, so that when it hits we're ready," said Williams.
She added the county is also exploring a new gateway on I-77 and looking to hire a county engineer to help with road design.
According to state data, Sumter is receiving $500,000, Orangeburg is getting $500,000 and Clarendon county is getting $380,000.