ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The City of Orangeburg passed a new budget that begins on October 1st.
Residents who lives in the city limit will not see an increase in property taxes but local fees will go up.
Residential sanitation will see an increase of $3 which will brings the cost to $20.
Fingerprinting at the Department of Public Safety will increase from $5 to $10 for residents and $5 to $20 for non residents.
Prior to this new budget, there was no fee for a funeral escort or to be buried at the city’s cemetery. Now, the city says it will cost $150 for a funeral escort and $300 to be buried with an extra $150 for a grave marker.
City administrator Sidney Evering says the new $29.6 million budget is due to the increase of costs.
“We’re certainly sympathetic and understand that everyone is facing a lot of financial pressures, which is why we were so adamant in council to not raise property taxes this year," Evering said. "However, in order for us to provide services that our citizens have come accustomed to, we do have to incur costs, as well, and we’re no different than everyone else in terms of having to pay additional costs for related goods and services.”
Mya Tyler lives in Orangeburg. She says costs of living is already high.
“My rent is $875 and it goes up, that’s just too much. My utility bill, not to mention, its like $300 something, and it’s only me," said Tyler. "I know I don’t use that much lights in the house.”
Tyler says that with minimum wage staying the same, it hard to afford necessities.
“We get paid $18, and they want to take rent up," said Tyler. "We still gotta take care. People don’t get food stamps or help from the government. You gotta buy groceries, groceries are high.”
In addition to the other increases, residents will see a fee for false fire alarms after the fourth false call in one calendar year. That fee will be $150.
Residents in the City of Orangeburg will start to see those fees go into effect in October.