After last year’s property tax increase followed by voters’ rejection of a local option penny tax to fund roads projects, Greenville County Council spent 2025 taking a closer look at county spending priorities while also assessing different approaches to guiding and/or restricting development.
Council Chairman Benton Blount (District 19) said in late November that much of council’s work was aimed at increasing transparency and building taxpayer trust in how county government is run.
Part of that effort included increasing opportunities for public input and communicating to voters that input was welcomed and valued, Blount said. This was among the reasons an additional public comment session — without any restrictions on topic — was added at the end of every county council meeting starting in January.
Dealing with development
In January, council rolled back last year’s passage of a Unified Development Ordinance after many on council criticized it for having a “one size fits all” approach to development throughout the county…