County can divert road funds to other projects, attorney says

Beaufort County can use its discretion to decide which of 10 road projects -- approved by voters in a 2006 referendum -- will be completed in the face of an expected $85.4 million shortfall, an attorney said Monday.

Officials have yet to determine which projects will be shelved.

The county originally planned to spend about $316 million on road improvements, with $152 million to be generated through a temporary penny sales tax approved in the referendum and about $54 million from impact fees charged to developers on new homes, chief financial officer David Starkey told the Beaufort Transportation Advisory Group on Monday.

The sales tax likely will meet its revenue target by the time it expires in 2012, but impact-fee collection has dropped significantly during the recession, Starkey said.

Revised cost estimates for several projects -- particularly extending Bluffton Parkway, now expected to exceed its original $60 million budget by about $36 million -- also increased the total price tag.

The advisory group, which includes mayors from each of the county's three municipalities and Yemassee, sought a legal opinion on the right to spend the available money only on road projects deemed a priority.

"I believe the county has discretion in order to manage, implement and administer the transportation penny-sales tax," said J. Michael Ey, an attorney with the McNair Law Firm in Columbia. "I think, yes, you can choose not to fund a project. You may come back 10 years from now and dust it off and say, 'You know, it's time to do that.' "

Decisions on which road projects will not be funded is expected to be made when the advisory group meets next month, though several members began discussing Monday which projects they think could be deferred.

Sheriff P.J. Tanner, an advisory group member, said political and personal desires should be put aside when setting priorities. First consideration should go to projects that would aid a hurricane evacuation, he said.

"If a project doesn't offer any help, it should go on the back burner," Tanner said.

Projects approved in the referendum for a 1-percent sales tax in 2006:

• Expand Bluffton Parkway from U.S. 278 near the Hilton Head Island bridges to S.C. 170.

• Resurface William Hilton Parkway from Gumtree Road to Sea Pines Circle and realign the parkway's intersection with Squire Pope Road on Hilton Head; widen U.S. 278 from S.C. 170 to Simmonsville Road in Bluffton; construct frontage roads along U.S. 278; enhance street lighting on U.S. 278 at the traffic signals from S.C. 170 to Hilton Head (all count as a single project)

• Widen S.C. 170 from S.C. 46 to Tidewatch Drive in greater Bluffton

• Widen U.S. 17 from Gardens Corner in northern Beaufort County to Lightsey Plantation Road in Colleton County

• Improve Boundary Street from Neil Road to Palmetto Street in Beaufort

• Construct a parallel road on Boundary Street from Robert Smalls Parkway to Sycamore Street in Beaufort

• Improve intersections along S.C. 802 between Lenora and Lady's Island drives in Port Royal

• Widen Lady's Island Drive from Ribaut Road to Sea Island Parkway

• Study a Northern Beaufort Bypass from Grays Hill to Brickyard Point Road on Lady's Island

• Widen Savannah Highway from S.C. 170 to Parris Island Gateway in Port Royal