MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCSC) - For the first time in seven years, homeowners and landowners in Moncks Corner will see a 15 percent property tax increase starting on October 1.

At the Moncks Corner Town Council meeting Thursday evening, the vote for a new budget was passed unanimously with only one member of the public providing input.

The economy, fuel prices and labor costs are all contributing factors according to Mayor Michael Lockliear, but the main reason for the increase is to afford and pay public employees.

“Retention has been very tough over the last year keeping employees,” Lockliear said. “Since other people are paying more around us, we had to step up and do the same thing.”

The tax hike means a homeowner with a property valued at $250,000 will have to pay $100 more per year on property taxes. Statistically, it is normal to increase taxes by about two-percent each year.

Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office Special Prosecutor Tyler Jenkins was the only one who asked a question during the public input portion of the meeting.

“My real question as far as the millage rate, 15 percent in one year seems like a pretty high number,” Jenkins said. “Was there any discussion about why that wasn’t incrementally put into place?”

In response, Lockliear said this is the first time in seven years that the city has had to increase property tax, which he is very proud of.

“We did it so we wouldn’t have to come back in two years and do it again,” Lockliear said. “As a resident of Moncks Corner, I’d much rather be taxed one time now and then another time in 10 years or so, but not every two years.”

Every year, the city government meets for a budget workshop where they go through the department by department and cut what is needed for a balanced budget. This year, Lockliear said they were short about $325,000 with the more expensive costs coming from health care and retirement benefits to public employees

“With that being done, it put a big dent in our budget,” Lockliear said. “That’s why the millage increase came and hopefully it will take us through the next six to seven-eight years.”

The new budget takes place from Oct. 1, 2022, until Sept. 30, 2023. Operating revenues will increase from $12,417,159 to $15,622,744 and operating expenditures will increase from $14,151,802 to $15,363,175.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

The lights are on, the cameras are rolling, and the action is taking place in Moncks Corner.

The film industry is back in the Lowcountry, with filming kicking off Tuesday along Main Street.

“I kind of equivalate it to a major sporting event,” said Moncks Corner Mayor Michael Lockliear. “Because you’re going to bring people into town that usually wouldn’t come this way.”

With construction cones in place and law enforcement directing traffic, the stage is set for the pharmacy.

Delta Pharmacy has been transformed and prepped for Hollywood’s Woody Harrelson and Laura Linney, the stars of the drama film Suncoast.

But for Lockliear, the town and its businesses are the show's true stars.

“They’re going to be shooting all the way up until noon tonight,” he said. “They’re closing down Main Street at seven and will shoot on the Hwy 6 Main Street, so that’s exciting. It will expose those businesses, and it’s exciting to have a Hollywood studio production here in the Town of Moncks Corner.

Tuesday afternoon, the tents and truckloads of gear in Delta's parking lot caught the eye of Monica Early, who was shopping across the street.

“I knew something was going on, but I didn’t know what it was,” she said. “Put our little town on the map like it’s never been before. I believe you need to use local small towns when possible for these big movies. If you can use local, that just ups the value of your town.”

While Charleston has captured the eye of Hollywood in recent years with the filming of the series Outerbanks and Righteous Gemstones, Lockliear hopes the same recognition can translate to what he calls South Carolina’s best-kept secret.

“When people come from outside that normally wouldn’t come to Moncks Corner and see what we have to offer, they want to come back, and it’s great to have that,” he said.

Now is your chance to play a small role in Suncoast. To learn more on how to sign up to be an extra in the film, click here.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCIV) — It’s been a brutally tough start for the Berkeley Stags football team. 1-5 is not anything anybody in Moncks Corner is used to seeing. What the team is going through, nothing, compared to their head coach who has for much of it been unapologetically absent.

For years, we’ve called Dr. Jerry Brown the “Good Doctor.” He’s not a medical doctor. He is a good man.

“My wife had a situation where I had to step away for three weeks, tough to get on and get on solid ground,” says the legendary head man.

One of the sweetest ladies in Moncks Corner is his wife, Mary Ames Brown. Sweet, exemplified, by the thousands upon thousands of Monday morning cookies baked, after hundreds and hundreds of Friday night wins.

“I’ll say this, she is a lot better at what she does than I am at what I do. She is definitely in the hall of fame, at that level as far as coaches' wives. Everyone here in Moncks Corner loves her. She’s felt the prayers, and that’s been precious.”

She’s needed them.

Her health has been in decline of late. Jerry has been there to deliver whatever else she has needed.

Day and night, month after month- he’s by her side. Practicing, what he’s always preached to his players, preparing them to be husbands and fathers.

“Came to a clash with my two commitments in the world- football and my wife. It’s been a nightmare. Operations were successful, she got over there trying to recover. She had 30 days in the hospital. That’s tough. She is weak as water some days, some days she feels a bit better. It will take a long time to be back how she was and gain her stamina.”

With this change, a marked change in Berkeley’s success on the field. Understandably so, when the head coach is so much a part of the team that is so much a part of the town.

“Tough situation emotionally for me. I want to treat the kids well and continue in a positive manner, but it's tough because my mind and heart will be other places sometimes. When I’m in football, I focus 100 percent on football. When I am a caretaker, I focus wholly on her and a caretaker. It’s really hard to mix both worlds. I’m really a single-minded guy. I came to the game on Friday and I felt real bad, she was weak as water that day and struggling. You are caught in between. It’s a tug of war between two commitments I have and balance it.”

She presses on, and so does he. They know what’s most important, and they know what those “sickness and health” vows mean.

“She wants me to go and go, come here and be with the kids, but at the same time, she needs her man.”

On the other side of this, those sweet cookies, will be just what the “Good Doctor” ordered.

New this year, kickoff Celebrate The Season at Holiday in the Park on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – The 12th annual Celebrate The Season charitable event, a family-friendly, month-long holiday festival, takes place daily from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Nov. 25 through Dec. 30 (closed Dec. 24 and Dec. 25). Celebrate The Season, organized and hosted by Santee Cooper, has donated more than $1 million to local charities, including the Coastal Community Foundation’s Giving Back to Berkeley Fund, since 2011. Berkeley Electric Cooperative will again serve as the festival’s presenting sponsor.

For only $5 per vehicle, visitors can drive through Celebrate The Season’s mile-long Holiday Lights Driving Tour, where thousands of festive holiday lights complement the natural beauty of Old Santee Canal Park. Participants can take as many trips as they like on the day they purchase their ticket.

New this year, Old Santee Canal Park will host Holiday in the Park from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 25 and 26. This kickoff event is included with admission to the Holiday Lights Driving Tour, which begins at Santee Cooper Headquarters at 1 Riverwood Dr. in Moncks Corner and ends in the park. Bring your family and friends for food, entertainment, a visit with Santa, and many other activities to help usher in the holiday season.

The beautiful LED lighting displays are powered by 100% Santee Cooper Green Power, which is Green-e Energy certified and meets the environmental and consumer-protection standards set forth by the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions. Learn more at www.green-e.org.

For those looking for additional weekend festivities, Holiday Fairs at Moncks Corner Regional Recreation Complex, organized by the Town of Moncks Corner, will be held each Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Dec. 2 to Dec. 17. Admission to the Holiday Fairs, which features holiday-themed entertainment and activities, is free.

Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s largest power provider, the ultimate source of electricity for 2 million people across the state, and one of America’s Best Midsize Employers as named by Forbes. Through its low-cost, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity and water services, and through innovative partnerships and initiatives that attract and retain industry and jobs, Santee Cooper helps power South Carolina. To learn more, visit www.santeecooper.com and follow #PoweringSC on social media.

The Town of Moncks Corner’s Comprehensive Plan update on Nov. 15 featured results from a recent community survey narrated by BCDCOG (Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments) Principal Planner Mark Brodeur, who communicated that people love restaurants and hate traffic, among other informative tidbits.

When addressing primary concerns forwarded by 523 survey respondents, Brodeur unequivocally stated that vehicular congestion is far and away the biggest gripe among locals, followed by requests for preservation of natural historic and cultural resources. Also noted were mentions of diminishing community character, overdevelopment and suburbanization.

“So, your residents are telling you something. They’re possibly telling you they feel the town is overdeveloping — it’s developing too quickly. But that’s not unusual. In every growing suburban community these things always come up,” surmised Brodeur, a native Californian and current resident of Summerville.

“You saw that most of the people who took this survey have lived here for over 20 years, so that’s why traffic, diminishing character, overdevelopment and suburbanization are affecting your long-term residents.”

As for the top three land uses respondents are clamoring for, the guest speaker reported them as restaurants, recreation services and retail services in that order.

The eating establishments he referred to weren’t the Taco Bell and/or Jack in the Box variety businesses, but rather sit-down family restaurants that are consistent with what folks want to see in their downtown area.

“They want to see building revitalization, they want to see more entertainment in their downtown, they want to see some new storefronts. Almost everybody who responded to this had some high expectations of what they want their downtown to ultimately be,” added Brodeur.

The “big question” he asked the Town Council members, public employees and community leaders in attendance was: “What would you be willing to sacrifice in order to to get the things you just identified?”

On that note, Brodeur advised that the emergence of neighborhood restaurants and other retail venues is dependent on the amount of rooftops in Moncks Corner.

When asked by a public official to elaborate by explaining just how many rooftops are required to attract new shops, the planning and zoning expert detailed that the answer to that question is contingent on the kind of businesses the Town is hoping to attract.

Restaurants, he said, will do their homework by targeting areas with a substantial family demographic, whereas the metrics of a hotel chain will typically focus on how many business travelers go in and out of a specific city or town.

Trader Joe’s, on the other hand, prioritizes “educational attainment” over all other data sets when determining where to set up shop.

“You’re not a poor community — you don’t have to worry about income attainment here. You may not get some of the restaurants in Downtown Charleston,” Brodeur continued.

But when he flipped the script on the survey participants in terms of what they’re willing to do away with and/or endure to entice their desired family eateries into the community, the respondents conveyed that they would accept a few more subdivision projects to boost population numbers.

Brodeur revisited traffic by acknowledging that Town government alone can’t modify and/or ameliorate the issue without collaborating with other agencies. He further advised that heavy congestion accelerates road deterioration and that the powers-that-be must keep up in terms of investing in the continued maintenance of local streets and related infrastructure.

Attendees at the Tuesday evening rundown reminded Brodeur that the population of Moncks Corner has doubled and even tripled in past decades. To that end, they noted the importance of valuing the opinions of residents who were born or raised in the area since they can offer the historical perspective of what the neighborhood looked like 30 or 40 years ago.

Brodeur described the composition of respondents to 19 survey questions as individuals who profile as mostly higher-educated adults. Of the 523 respondents, 263 were actual town residents, as the remainder of that group lived in the surrounding areas of Moncks Corner. In total, the survey recorded 5,607 online views, ensuring that a large chunk of constituents are at least aware of the study.

The presenter’s only regret was the fact that none of the respondents were under the age of 18 since potential decisions that will result from the survey will directly impact young people as they enter the workforce and produce their own families in future years.