County councilman thinks city should ante up to cover increased 'rec' spending

The Cherokee County Recreation District has requested about $50,000 in additional funding from the county in the proposed budget.

Cherokee County Councilman Bailey Humphries thinks the money should come from the city's ever-growing Hospitality Tax rather than the pockets of county property owners.

"The city is building all of these new parks and then the Recreation District has to keep them up," he said.

Humphries said he will likely ask Cherokee County Interim Administrator Ben Clary at today's meeting to make a formal request to the city for additional Recreation District funding.

Councilman Quay Little, who also wants the city to cough up more money for the Recreation District, said he got little response when he discussed the matter with city council members.

The Recreation District wants a 3.8 mill appropriation from the county in the proposed budget, an increase of .3 mills. The 3.8 mills would generate about $565,000 in tax revenue for the recreation district.

The hospitality tax is a surcharge on prepared food. It should generate about

$800,000 in revenue for the city in 2006-'07, according to the most recent projections available.

The city currently gives the Recreation District $50,000 annually to maintain the city parks.

Gaffney Mayor Henry Jolly has said the city is actually contributing more than $50,000 to the Recreation District because city council recently approved spending $163,000 to upgrade Thomson Park.