Hilton Head officials seek vote in May on 25-year arts and parks tax. Is it rushed?
Will Hilton Head Island residents be ready to vote on a 25-year tax in just over 100 days?
Town officials want them to be.
On Tuesday, every member of the Hilton Head town council gave a stump speech for a 25-year tax that would raise $65 million if approved by voters the first week of May.
The Town Council wants to use the tax, which would take the place of the special hurricane assessment Hilton Head taxpayers approved in 2016, to pay for parks, recreation and arts.
“This is an extraordinary effort to improve the services we can offer to people,” Ward 6 representative Glenn Stanford said. “I see nothing but good coming out of this, and I don’t see a tax increase.”
“This speaks to the importance of quality of life from 8 (years old) to 80,” Ward 2 representative Bill Harkins added. “There’s something in this for everybody.”
‘Why rush?’
Some voters weren’t necessarily sold on the referendum.
“It looks like this proposal was rushed,” Risa Prince, a resident of Hilton Head’s Port Royal Plantation, said Tuesday. “It appears to us you’re trying to push this through.”
The public first learned of the referendum in early December after The Island Packet reported on a discussion about the 25-year tax at the council’s Dec. 6 workshop in Beaufort. Prince said there was “little opportunity” for public comment at the workshop.
Others had a grim prediction for the vote.
“So little information will affect the voting and the results,” resident Marty Gleason said. “Why rush the referendum when the community has had so little input? There’s a low chance of passing in such a short time frame.”
After Hurricane Matthew, state law allowed the Town of Hilton Head Island to assess a special tax of 5 mils — about $20 per $100,000 of home market value — so the government could recover from the storm and prepare for another.
The tax has raised $13.5 million to replenish hurricane funds since it was implemented three years ago.
Now that tax is set to expire in two years, and Town Manager Steve Riley said he and Mayor John McCann propose extending the tax to complete projects in the town’s parks and recreation system.
The Town of Hilton Head Island is the third local body to pitch a referendum to voters. In November 2019, Beaufort County voters passed a $345 million bond issue for the school district. In November 2018, voters approved a one-cent transportation tax to fund several roads projects, including an overhaul of the U.S. 278 corridor.
While most council members unequivocally supported the new plan, others cautioned about the timing.
“I’m very much in favor of this referendum. It’s the principal way to maintain our property values,” Ward 3 representative David Ames said. “My concern is we don’t have enough time, I do not want this referendum to fail because we have not provided the type of information,” the public expects.
“I think the benefits are there. I’m worried about the time,” Ward 5 representative Tom Lennox echoed.
Where would the money go?
In a presentation to town council Jan. 7, Riley said the money from a successful referendum would be split into two sections:
- Arts and Culture: $35 million would be divvied up three ways, he said: $25 million would go to capital improvements at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, another $5 million would go to projects at the Coastal Discovery Museum, and $5 million would go to expanding Mitchelville Freedom Park.
- Parks and Recreation: The remaining $30 million would also be split among three different areas. Chaplin park, Crossings park and a now-empty plot of land near Port Royal Plantation, which was previously used as Planter’s Row golf course, would get major updates to their facilities. Those could include new fields and buildings.
Riley said the two sections would be separate ballot questions for voters to decide.
McCann said the suggestions come from a parks and recreation master plan that’s been in the works since August, as well as the venue committee, which has worked in years past to locate arts venues.
But Prince said there’s not enough in the plan to warrant such a big undertaking.
“We simply don’t understand why you’re not waiting until we complete this road map,” she said, referring to several plans in the works that are set to be completed in the next year, including a parks and recreation master plan, a proposal to overhaul Mitchelville Freedom Park, and a parking study commissioned by the town.
“There’s no final scope” for the money, she said, “no architectural renderings, no ongoing maintenance plan, no oversight plan and very little time to educate the public.”
If approved, the tax would start in 2022.
New plan for the arts center
Mayor McCann also announced Tuesday that the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina will partner with the University of South Carolina - Beaufort to become a university-run facility.
The mid-island center will get $25 million from the town if the referendum passes, and McCann said the center will continue to have productions while it’s used for new USCB degree programs that focus on arts, such as stage lighting.
“USCB and the state will be responsible for all the maintenance on the property and arts campus,” McCann said. “The building is being modernized for the university to use.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story misidentified what the referendum funds would be used for at the Arts Center. The money, if approved in 2021, would be used for capital improvements to the buildings.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
