This story has been corrected to reflect that the location of the meeting is in Beaufort rather than Bluffton.
Voters shot down a proposal to raise Beaufort County’s sales tax last year — but county leaders may give them a chance to change their minds in 2018.
The Beaufort County Council is set to take a final vote Monday evening on a measure that would add a sales tax increase referendum to next year’s ballot.
If passed by the council, the referendum would ask voters to approve adding a penny in tax for every dollar spent in an effort to raise $120 million over four years for transportation improvement projects.
The bulk of that revenue — $80 million — would be used to help widen or replace the aging and often congested Hilton Head Island bridges, according to county plans.
Sales tax revenue would also be used for traffic improvements on Lady’s Island along the Sea Island Parkway corridor between the Woods Memorial Bridge and the Chowan Creek Bridge, and for new sidewalks and pathways throughout the county.
The failed referendum in 2016 aimed to raise roughly $130 million for about three dozen capital infrastructure projects, a handful of which were later funded through a bond sale.
The County Council meets at 6 p.m. Monday in the council chambers at Beaufort County Government Robert Smalls Complex, 100 Ribaut Road, Beaufort.
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