Bell’s Bits – It appears things are beginning to get back to “normal”. I want to thank our City employees, our citizens, and our businesses for handling the state’s restrictions during this pandemic with class.
Public access to all City facilities will be opened back up to the public on June 1st. All municipal court proceedings other than bond hearings will resume in July.
Thank you to the Fountain Inn Chamber of Commerce for putting on a wonderful Taste Inn event on Main Street on May 21st. The event wouldn’t have been a such a success without all the participating restaurants and the citizens who showed up to support them. I’m already looking forward to the third annual Taste Inn!
The 2020 Fountain Inn Farmers Market opened on May 16th and it was a great success. The Farmers Market will continue every Saturday morning at Commerce Park on Depot Street from 8:00 a.m. to noon until September 12th.
The 2020 Friday Night music series, formally known as Dancing on Depot but now titled Sounds of Summer, kicks off on June 5th in Commerce Park at 7:00 p.m. We have a great lineup of artists this season, including the popular South Carolina band Cravin’ Melon on August 14th.
While continuing to implement social distancing practices, we have opened our outdoor parks facilities as of May 18th. Our outdoor recreation programs have also started back up for an abbreviated season. The rescheduled ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony date for Emanuel Sullivan Sports Complex will be announced soon. The Activities Center is set to undergo a major interior renovation, so we are still discussing internally a reopening date.
City Council adopted an emergency ordinance on Thursday, April 9th temporarily waiving late payment penalties for the payment of business license taxes and hospitality taxes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitality tax report forms for the reporting periods of April 2020 and May 2020 are due on May 20, 2020 and June 20, 2020, respectively, but the payment of the hospitality taxes will not accrue a late penalty until June 21, 2020. Failure to file a timely hospitality tax report form, with or without payment, shall be deemed as a non-payment of the hospitality tax and shall accrue a late penalty. Hospitality Tax report forms that were due March 20, 2020 shall be considered timely submitted if the hospitality tax report form bears a U.S. mail postmark date of on or before April 20, 2020. The business license renewal deadline was April 30, 2020 and just like hospitality tax, the renewal application form was due by April 30th, but the renewal application payment needs to be submitted by June 20, 2020 so as to not accrue a late penalty.
If you have not yet done so, please be sure to fill out the 2020 Census. The National Self-Response rate is right at 60%, the South Carolina rate is nearly 55%, and the City of Fountain Inn response rate is at 61%.
We hope you were able to take advantage of our annual Spring Cleanup event throughout the month of May. However, any items left on the curb after May 30 will be the responsibility of the homeowner to dispose of by their own means. Remember: The City does not pick up these items any other time of the year. Notices and fine will begin in June for violations of our trash pick-up policy. You can always visit fountaininn.org for more information.
For the health and safety of our Public Works employees, we are still emphasizing that all trash must be bagged. Also, please remember to place your garbage container at the curb with the hinges towards the home. We will not be emptying containers placed the wrong way.
Shawn Bell is the City Administrator of Fountain Inn. For more information, go to www.fountaininn.org, call 864-862-4421, or email shawn.bell@fountaininn.org.
