Overview of the Budget Process

Budget process:

All municipalities, regardless of size, must adopt by ordinance a balanced annual budget. Revenues must equal expenditures.
All budget meetings are public meetings, and the municipality must provide written notice of the meetings and an agenda. Written notice includes, but need not be limited to, posting a copy of the meeting agenda at least 24 hours before the meeting at the town/city hall or at the building in which the meeting is to be held and notifying the press and anyone who has requested individual notice. The meeting notice and agenda must also be posted on the municipal website, if the municipality has a website.
General budget discussions do not qualify for executive session.
Before adopting an annual budget, council must conduct a public hearing giving at least a 15-day public notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. S.C. Code of Laws  6-1-80 gives specific details of what the notice must include.
State law requires a public hearing and ordinance, approved by a positive majority vote of the municipal council, to impose new service fees. S.C. Code of Laws  6-1-330 gives specific details of what the notice must include. A positive majority is a majority of the total members of the council, not a majority of a quorum of council members present at a meeting.