Beaufort kicks off new year by spending $810K. Here’s where the money is going
The five members of the Beaufort City Council — meeting for the first time in 2025 — got right down to business Tuesday, voting to spend over $800,000 from two pots of state and federal money but rejecting a request to help fund a celebration of a visit to the city by a famous Frenchman 200 years ago.
One source of the money is state sales taxes that the city divvies up annually for groups that promote tourism. This year, 14 organizations, including some that host the area’s mostly widely recognized events, are receiving grants. The second source is federal COVID-19 relief grants that the city must spend. The last of that money will help the city fix a popular boat ramp and improve storm drainage in another neighborhood.
Here’s where the $815,911 from those two sources of funds are going after votes from the City Council Tuesday:
ATAX money
First of all, the City Council approved awarding $382,536 in State Accommodations Tax (ATAX) funds.
The annual grants are funded by a 2% sales tax on overnight stays.
The grants must be used for projects that promote tourism and attract visitors, such as festivals or marketing plans designed to bring people to town.
Each year, the city’s Tourism Development Advisory Committee considers applications and makes recommendations to the City Council, which made this year’s awards Tuesday after some adjustments.
Here’s who getting the ATX money and how much:
▪ Greater Beaufort/Port Royal Convention and Visitor’s Bureau: $200,000 for marketing and attending trade shows for promotion purposes.
▪ Beaufort Area Hospitality Association: $18,000 for the Beaufort Oyster Festival.
▪ South Carolina Lowcountry and Resort Islands Tourism: $61,800 to promote the city of Beaufort and the Lowcountry:
▪ Port Royal Sound Foundation: $9,500 for a “school of fish exhibit” for the organization’s Maritime Center on the Okatie Highway in Port Royal.
▪ Beaufort Water Search and Rescue: $20,000 water rescue services and safe patrols during the annual Water Festival.
▪ Beaufort Film Society: $15,000 for the annual film festival.
▪ Gullah Traveling Theatre, Inc.: $30,000 for the 2024 Gullah Christmas Celebration.
▪ Friends of Hunting Island: $10,000 for Hunting Island’s mobile virtual reality program.
▪ Friends of the Spanish Moss Trail: $13,000 for wayfinding signs along Boundary Street.
▪ Freedman Arts District: $20,000 for the Chalk It Up Festival. The award was a $5,000 increase over what the committee recommended. “It was just phenomenal,” Councilman Neil Lispsitz said of the first first festival that brings in top chalk artists to town in March.
▪ $35,000 for the Original Gullah Festival, a three-day event at Waterfront Park and other locations that celebrates and educates. The grant is $13,500 more than the committee recommended for the event but less than the $18,500 increase sought by Councilman Mitch Mitchell, which would have resulted in $40,000 for the festival. Mitchell argued highlighting Gullah history was worthy of additional funds. In making his argument, Mitchell pointed to a separate request on the agenda for $10,000 in city funds that the council had considered earlier in the meeting. It came from the Historic Beaufort Foundation to help it coordinate a celebration of the 200-year anniversary of Marquis de Lafayette’s visit to Beaufort on March 18, 1825. The French aristocrat fought in the Continental Army against the British. While Lafayette’s visit is part of the city’s history, “I can only imagine what life was like for people like me in 1825,” said Mitchell, who is Black. Gullah history, he added, “was going on for folks like myself” and is also worth telling.
The city said no to contributing $10,000 to the Lafayette celebration but agreed to assist HBF with “in-kind” services.
▪ Penn Center, Inc.: $10,000 for the 40th Heritage Days Celebration.
Funding for boat landing and drainage
The council also OK’d a budget amendment to formalize the final projects that the city is financing using federal funds received through the American Rescue Plan Act, which was approved to help communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those projects are:
▪ The Battery Shores drainage project, $194,155. The neighborhood, located south of Boundary Street and between Parris Island Gateway and Ribaut Road, has views of Battery Creek. The work is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025.
▪ Pigeon Point boat landing, $239,220. The floating dock will be repaired and the overall landing will be improved. The landing, which provides access to the Beaufort River, is located in the Pigeon Point neighborhood, one of the city’s most scenic residential areas. Work is slated for the first two quarters of 2025.
