Hartsville, we have exciting news! The City is thrilled to announce that we are the recipient of the largest grant in the history of our City. We have been awarded $8.5 million plus an additional $500,000 from our application to the state-funded South Carolina Infrastructure Improvement Plan and Rural Infrastructure Authority, respectively. This was a highly competitive process, with months of work from City staff and our partners at the Pee Dee Council of Government. Several critical infrastructure needs have been identified and targeted for improvements and/or replacement, including our Wastewater Treatment Plant, Wastewater Lift Stations, Water Pump Rooms, and even our iconic downtown City of Hartsville Water Tank. Combined with an obligation of $1 million from our stimulus American Rescue Plan Act funds, we have a combined $10 million worth of improvements coming to our city.
What does this mean? With the receipt of this grant, the City will ensure our community’s continued success and economic growth for decades through the guarantee of capacity at our wastewater treatment plant and the continued availability of fresh, clean drinking water for our residents and businesses. We can do all this with zero impact on our debt and without raising a single dollar in taxes.
I want to thank our staff for their dedication and hard work in navigating this process, the Pee Dee Council of Government, and Hanna Engineering for their assistance. I would also like to recognize our State and Local representatives, particularly Senator Gerald Malloy and Representatives Robert Williams and Cody Mitchell, for assistance with this and many other projects. Finally, I want to thank our Mayor and City Council, who recognized the significance of this project and what it would mean for our community, allowing us to devote the resources necessary to see this project through.
The next few months will be a flurry of activity once the funds have been delivered.
Daniel Moore
City Manager