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Jessica Nelms

Oconee County officials say that making the courthouse comply with federal Americans Wtih Disabilites Act requirements is an example of a big-ticket future cost that could easily erase large reserve funds.

WALHALLA — Compared with other counties, Oconee is somewhere around the middle when it comes to saving up for a rainy day by having $5.49 million in reserves as of June 30, 2008, a survey undertaken by the South Carolina Association of Counties shows.

The SCAC survey conducted earlier this year compiled the Reserve Fund Balances and Contingency Funds of 33 of the 46 counties in the state. More than one third of the counties reviewed, including Oconee, maintained reserves that ranged from $3 million to $20 million.

Oconee’s $5.49 million reserve in 2008 is about 12 percent of its current General Fund Budget of $43.3 million. However, in a report to Oconee County Council earlier this month, Interim Administrator Kendra Brown said the county had $12.3 million in undesignated funds as of June 30, 2008. Brown said undesignated funds serve as cash flow with no particular plan for using the money.

Neighboring Pickens County has $20 million in reserves in keeping with its standing policy to retain 10 to 15 percent of current budget. By comparison, Anderson County keeps $15.4 million in reserves.

Unlike other counties in the survey, Oconee made no reference to any policy as to how much should be retained in reserves.

For instance, three counties — Abbeville, Charleston and Horry — have a policy of keeping two months operating expenses in reserves. Newberry and Richland retain four months operating expenses. Other counties retain a percentage of their budget in reserves that range from eight percent in the case of Sumter ($7 million) to 35 percent for Georgetown ($8 million).

Barnwell County located south of Aiken and Marlboro County in the northeast corner of the state were at one extreme of the spectrum with zero in reserves. Both Barnwell and Marlboro are relatively small counties with populations of less than 30,000 and fiscal 2009 General Fund budgets that range from about $10 million to $12 million.

At the other extreme are big and affluent Charleston, Greenville and Richland counties.

Charleston keeps $40.7 million in Unencumbered Reserve Funds that includes $28.5 million as per county policy to reserve two months expenses required for bond rating; an additional $8 million for rainy-day calamities and $4.2 million in undesignated reserves.

Greenville squirrels away $49.4 million in reserves, including $47 million in keeping with county policy to maintain 25 percent of expenses required for bond rating, and $2.4 million as per county policy to maintain 2 percent contingency for all funds to meet budget shortfalls.

Richland keeps $38 million in reserves to retain four months operating expenses in keeping with county policy.

According to the SCAC, among the major reasons for keeping a cushion in reserves are to maintain county credit rating for bond issuance; cover unexpected costs of catastrophic events and natural calamities; paying for one-time capital expenditures and other one-time costs; and meeting expenditure obligations between July 1 (beginning of the fiscal year) and January (when property tax collections pick up).