Laurens Co. Sheriff's Office using penny sales tax for new evidence room

November 21, 2020

LAURENS COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Laurens County Administrator John Caime is excited for the future.

"Right now we are in the process of re-finalizing the entire county," he told FOX Carolina. "This sales tax is a wonderful tool for us to be able to address a lot of different things."

He says quality of life projects – like a new agriculture center downtown, courthouse renovations, and a new facilities for those who protect the community – are all now possible.

"We've probably got about a quarter of $1 billion of things that we need to take care of in the county," Caime explained. "But you can't eat a quarter billion dollar elephant; you have to take it a spoonful at a time."

"We need a new law enforcement center, and this is just one component of that," he added.

A new evidence room for the sheriffs department is one of those small spoonfuls that he says will make a big impact. Caime says this should've been done years ago, but they didn't have the money they do now. The building was a cluttered mess when we toured back in 2018—Somethings sheriff Don Reynolds has publicly acknowledged the need to address multiple times.