(a) Authority. Greenville county council is authorized by S.C. Code § 4-9-30 and S.C. Code § 6-1-330, as amended, to levy uniform service charges to provide for public safety.
(b) Public Safety Telecommunications Fee. There shall be a uniform public safety telecommunications service fee of $14.95 annually imposed upon each parcel of real property located in Greenville County to support enhanced access to county-wide emergency and public included on real property tax notices in such manner and method as determined by the Greenville county administrator and collected by the county tax collector pursuant to State law.
(1) The uniform public safety telecommunications service fee shall be due, payable and collected in the same manner as real property taxes and shall be subject to the same penalties and interest as overdue real property taxes. The proceeds from the collection of such fees shall be deposited into the county general fund special public safety telecommunications account. The proceeds of such fund shall be specifically used for the lease, purchase, lease-purchase, or maintenance of county-wide public safety telecommunications network infrastructure and network components including radios for county departments, towers, equipment, P-25 compliant communication service or similar services as technology advances, computer hardware, software and non-recurring costs of initially establishing the network platform; and rates associated with the network service provider’s service and provider’s recurring charges.
(2) At the end of ten years the amortized infrastructure costs will have been satisfied, and the fee amount will be reevaluated and potentially reduced. Funds not used in any fiscal year shall be carried forward and used exclusively for the above allowed interoperable public safety telecommunication operations in the county.
(3) The use of the proceeds of such fund shall be administered by the county administrator or his designee with input from an advisory committee comprised of: president of the Greenville county fire chiefs association, director of county emergency services, director of county EMS, and the Greenville county sheriff or his designee.
(Ord. 4907, passed 6-6-2017)