‘Absurd and false’: Beaufort Co. School Board pens letter blasting repealed impact fees
This story has been updated.
Beaufort County School Board members voted Tuesday to release a letter to the public expressing their displeasure at being cast as not supporting the now repealed school impact fees, which would have seen taxpayers and developers share the burden of future education costs.
The letter, which was read aloud in part at the meeting by the board’s chairman, David Striebinger, is a response to “comments” made at a Beaufort County Council meeting that took place on April 25, he said.
“During the session, a county council official pointed to the lack of school board members in attendance as an indication the school board was not avidly supporting impact fees,” Striebinger said in the letter. “Really? A multi-million dollar funding source was rejected because no member could attend the meeting?”
Eric Greenway, the county administrator, said he sent an email to Superintendent Rodriguez and town officials in Hilton Head and Bluffton saying, “If you all want to preserve your impact fees, then I suggest you all start doing what you need to do with regards to communications.”
The board, Striebinger said, spent five years displaying “unwavering” support for the action and attended multiple county council meetings on the subject. The “explosive development” in Bluffton and Hardeeville is expected to cause a strain on schools that cannot support continued development without funding for future expansions, he said. The implication from the county, he said, was either “ignorance” or “intentional deception.”
“Whatever the motivation, it was absurd and false,” he said in the letter.
Chris Ophardt, a spokesperson for the county, said the impact fees were passed in July 2021.
“The board has ten months, four public council meetings, and numerous other opportunities to engage the elected leaders and county staff to address concerns about the 2020 County/School Board Impact fee study and work with local municipalities to build support,” he said.
The impact fees were repealed in a 9-2 vote on April 25 and money that was already paid up to that date was voted to be returned to property owners, according to previous reporting from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. No school board members were at the meeting or spoke out via telephone during the public comments section concerning the impact fees.
Candace Bruder, a spokeswoman for the school board, told a reporter that board member Richard Geier submitted a statement ahead of the meeting’s public comment section outlining projections development will have on schools over the next five years.
According to the data, which comes from an annual update from the school district’s facilities master plan, enrollment is expected to continue growing in county areas like Bluffton, Hardeeville and Okatie, requiring two more schools to be built. That project is estimated to cost approximately $110 million, according to the district’s estimations.
‘Fog of misunderstanding’
On April 25, County Council members raised concerns that other municipalities were not enforcing the collection of the fees, resulting in unincorporated areas of Beaufort becoming the total source of funding.
“Until we get to a point where the town of Bluffton and town of Hilton Head have signed on to school impact fees, it is unfair,” said council member Brian Flewelling.
They also questioned whether taxpayers could possibly end up paying double when the impact fees were combined with the school referendum and whether the impact fees would increase the cost of living in the area at a time when the county is trying to establish workforce and affordable housing.
“The biggest discussion I’ve heard from municipalities is we’ll agree to it, but we want lower impact fees based on the value of the home and the difference has to be paid for by the county,” said council member Logan Cunningham. “That can go by millions very quickly ... it’s completely repetitive.”
Striebinger, the school board chairman, expressed doubt that the reason the impact fees were rescinded had anything to do with a lack of support from the board and pointed the finger instead at other municipalities and at a lawsuit filed by a developer who said the fees were illegal, he said.
Striebinger called the rhetoric surrounding the fees a “fog of misunderstanding, conflicting statements and hidden agendas.”
“A vote against fees says the entire burden should be borne by Beaufort County taxpayers,” Striebinger said in the letter. “Beaufort County Board of Education has never wavered that impact fees are a reasonable and equitable way to provide relief to county taxpayers.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 2:26 PM.
