‘Time to calm some of those fears:’ Hilton Head orgs react to postponed vote on $65M tax
Hilton Head Island voters won’t be going to the polls on a “quality of life referendum” nearly as soon as Mayor John McCann wanted, and that’s going to affect the ability of island institutions to raise money over the next two years, according to leaders from the Coastal Discovery Museum, Mitchelville Freedom Park and the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina.
The “quality of life” referendum was a plan to raise $65 million by taxing property owners to help three of Hilton Head Island’s arts organizations and several parks facilities.
Originally, the issue was supposed to face an island-wide vote in May, but McCann announced Feb. 13 the referendum would be rescheduled to November 2021.
Some residents suggested the plan was “rushed,” that three months from the town council’s workshop to McCann’s postponement was not enough time for public vetting.
“It appears to us you’re trying to push this through,” resident Risa Prince told the council Jan. 21. “There’s no final scope, no architectural renderings, no ongoing maintenance plan, no oversight plan and very little time to educate the public.”
Responding to criticism, McCann said the rescheduled vote will give the town 18 months to provide more information to the electorate on what the tax will pay for.
Can the mayor unilaterally postpone the vote?
McCann told The Island Packet Feb. 13 that he’d discussed the postponement with members of town council before deciding with the town manager to reschedule the referendum.
But there was no public discussion on the decision.
And the mayor canceled the Feb. 18 town council meeting, in which the council was set to vote for a second time on putting the tax on the ballot in May in the form of two questions.
Only because the council still needed that second vote on the referendum could the mayor legally postpone it. Since it had not had the final vote, McCann needed only to remove the issue from the agenda to quash it.
The mayor has the sole power to add and remove items from agendas, according to the town code.
But the move, which The Island Packet’s editorial board called “governance by press release,” has led some to be skeptical of conversations the mayor and council members have privately prior to big public announcements.
McCann told The Island Packet he spoke with representatives of the Arts Center, Mitchelville Project and the Coastal Discovery Museum the day he postponed the referendum to let them know of his plans.
Time to ‘calm some of those fears’
How does the rescheduled referendum affect the organizations that would have had guaranteed funding if the referendum passed?
Rex Garniewicz, CEO and president of the Coastal Discovery Museum, said he supported the later referendum date — pointing to months of planning and research he hopes to release to the public about improvements at the museum.
“I actually think a delay in the referendum gives us an opportunity to better explain what we are doing to everyone,” he said.
But drawing out the uncertainty of whether the museum will get $5 million from the town changes his organization’s fundraising, he said.
“There is the negative effect postponing it has for us. A lot of other potential funders want to see that we have the support of the town,” he said. “If that referendum had passed,” it would have shown “that the town was committed to doing this. It would have really helped us fund raise from other sources for this project.”
Ahmad Ward, executive director of the Mitchelville Freedom Park, echoed Garniewicz’s concerns about fundraising. Ward said Mitchelville is embarking on a two-year national effort to get grants and donations to the park.
“It is not pulling the rug out from under us, so to speak,” he said. “My hope is that now there will be that time to calm some of those fears about that money.”
Ward said many community members approached him with questions about the referendum and what it would pay for. If voters approve the tax in 2021, Mitchelville would get $5 million.
The Coastal Discovery Museum released a master plan in 2016. Mitchelville is completing its master plan in 2020.
The third organization that would get five times the funding of the other two is the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. The facility recently announced its partnership with the University of South Carolina-Beaufort to become a university-run building and begin to offer degree programs.
While the money from a successful referendum would fund capital improvements to the building, neither the town, USCB or the arts center have released plans for what an arts campus could look like.
Jennifer Ray, a deputy director for community development at the town, said that an “arts campus” may not be what some think of as a sprawl of college buildings.
“Everyone wants to know exactly (how) this is going to work and we don’t know at this point,” she said. “There’s lots of opportunity in that area, and a ‘campus’ could be a collaboration (in) the fact that a lot of groups can use this facility together.”
But there still appears to be confusion about the referendum among island leaders.
Arts Center of Coastal Carolina president and CEO Jeffrey Reeves said Friday the new referendum date is a positive move so the organization can work on a plan for the funding, if it’s approved.
“It doesn’t change anything with our fundraising efforts, since our fundraising is geared toward programming such as educational programs, community outreach and performances and presenting artists. The passing of the referendum, would however, benefit our facility costs and overhead expenses,” he wrote in a statement to The Island Packet.
Reeves added that many parts of the referendum are still up in the air — including how much money the center would get.
He said $25 million is a “misperception,” although Mayor McCann and town staff members have used that dollar amount for the center since January. Reeves did not say how much money the center would receive, but that the money would go to renovation and sale of the building to USCB.
He said some of the money used for renovations would free up funds to pay off the center’s debt in two years.
Reeves told donors in an email blast that “there will be no changes to the non-profit Arts Center’s organization, mission or role in education, community outreach, or producing and presenting the performing arts in our current facility.”
What’s next?
While the vote has been rescheduled, director of community involvement Shawn Colin acknowledged, “There’s still a lot of work to be done in the interim. We’re not delaying any efforts.”
That means Hilton Head residents can expect more information campaigns and outreach over the next 18 months on what the $65 million would be used for.
In the meantime, several far-reaching plans are set to be complete in coming months. While Mitchelville completes its master plan, a parks and recreation plan and the town’s comprehensive plan are scheduled to be finished in June.
Garniewicz said that even though the referendum is delayed, he and the museum will continue to advocate for it.
“To have a good museum and performing arts center?” he asked. “Those are quality of life issues, and if they don’t get pushed, they will be left behind.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
