Proposed Hilton Head arts venue faces uphill battle for county funding
A county tax panel has yet to drop the ax on a $30-million request to help build a new arts venue on Hilton Head Island, but members may be sharpening the blade.
The Beaufort County Capital Project Sales Tax Commission, a panel of six which evaluates infrastructure project proposals from local governments and colleges, met Tuesday to discuss the venue and other requested projects.
The proposed island art venue was heavily and repeated criticized throughout the three-hour work session.
Panel chairman Mike Sutton said venue plan is “not mature enough.”
“We have no idea what this thing is going to cost, we don’t know where it’s going to be, and we don’t know who is going to use it,” he said.
Town officials are seeking county money — revenue from a potential sales tax increase which if approved by county voters, would add a penny to every dollar spent in the county — to help build the center.
The arts venue was first pitched to the commission last month by Hilton Head Island Mayor David Bennett, who argued the facility would be an economic, cultural and tourism boon.
Preliminary plans call for a roughly 3.5-acre campus with several exhibit halls and meeting rooms, a 1,500-seat concert hall, and a 5,000-seat outdoor amphitheater.
The full cost is estimated to be as high as $65 million.
A specific location has yet to be determined.
Sales tax panel members balked last month at the price tag and the lack of details in the town’s plans.
The reaction to the proposal wasn’t much different Tuesday.
Commission member Mike Tripka called the town’s plan “extremely lacking.”
Some on the commission worried that residents north of the Broad River would have a difficult time getting to a venue.
“The whole emphasis (of the venue) is Hilton Head Island,” panel member Joseph Kline said, arguing that sales tax revenues should be used for projects that benefit the whole county.
With the island venue, “we are satisfying a need for a very specific population,” he said.
A publicly funded facility would better serve residents if it were built “at a more centrally located portion of the county,” Kline said.
Sutton agreed, citing Bluffton as a more appropriate hypothetical location.
“The road access (to Bluffton) is easier,” he said. “It wouldn’t force people from other parts of Beaufort County or Jasper County to drive all the way over the bridge to get to the (arts) center.”
“Arts is county-wide,” Sutton said. “...Why does Hilton Head have to be the center of an arts and culture district?”
Commission member Andrea Siebold countered, saying, “Hilton Head is the driver for the future (of Beaufort County) in a big way, and we must (build) something there that is future-driven.”
After a heated debate, several commission members appeared poised to call for an immediate vote on whether to eliminate the venue and it’s $30-million price tag from consideration.
Cooler heads prevailed and the panel agreed to table discussions temporarily.
Members said they plan to meet with Hilton Head officials about the potential for scaling back the project to make it less expensive, and therefor more palatable to both the commission and county voters.
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What’s next?
If an agreement isn’t reached to scale back plans for the venue, the tax panel could vote to remove the $30-million project from its funding list as early as it’s next meeting.
That meeting is at 2 p.m. April 19 at the county administration building, 100 Ribaut Rd., Beaufort.
Commissioners will use it to continue winnowing down the list of proposed projects before presenting it to Beaufort County Council in May.
In the County Council approves the list, voters would then decide whether to raise the sales tax by one percent to pay for the projects.
Should voters favor the tax hike in November’s election, the increase would last four years and raise an estimated $120 million for capital projects.
The Beaufort County School District recently approved a similar measure that will allow voters to authorize a 10-year, one-percent sales tax increase to pay for school construction projects.
Sales tax commission members said Tuesday that the school board’s decision will have no impact on what they decide.
This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 8:15 AM with the headline "Proposed Hilton Head arts venue faces uphill battle for county funding."