‘Taking advantage’: Hilton Head and Beaufort County battle over sheriff services
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect sum for what Hilton Head Island Mayor John McCann said the town would pay the county for law enforcement services. He offered to reduce the $3.6 million annual payment by $1 million per year. The story has been updated.
When Hilton Head Island Mayor John McCann wrote Beaufort County leaders last November that the town would no longer pay for police services, that left at least a $3.6 million hole in the county’s budget.
Since then, county council members have been trying to figure out how to make up for the loss while also bracing for a huge revenue decline due to the coronavirus pandemic. Behind closed doors, they debated imposing Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office service fees on Hilton Head residents. In open session, some council members suggested making Hilton Head pay for its own convenience center.
“I’m tired of having this argument with Hilton Head,” Council member Brian Flewelling said. “We’ve got to have some action. We’ve got a $4.5 million hole because of their lack of payments.”
As those talks come to a head — the county’s budget is set for a vote in June — McCann has changed his tune, slightly, and proposed another plan.
In a May 18 letter to County Council Chair Joe Passiment, McCann said the town would reduce the money paid to the county by $1 million per year over the next three years for police services. After the initial three years, the town would pay only for “beach patrol activities and enforcement of town ordinances,” which would total about $300,000 per year, according to McCann.
McCann’s proposal illustrates the ongoing battle between Hilton Head and Beaufort County leaders over the amount of police services the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office provides to Hilton Head residents — and whether residents in Bluffton, Beaufort andBeaufort County are footing the bill for Hilton Head services.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, who has largely left the debate for Hilton Head and the county to decide, told Beaufort County leaders on Monday that the annual cost of providing police services to Hilton Head is $4.2 million. In previous years, Hilton Head has paid Beaufort County $3.6 million per year for these services. However, with or without the payment, Tanner says his officers will provide the same services.
“I can understand the debate, but my job is to provide services to Beaufort County,” he said. “The Town of Hilton Head should have more discussion with county council about what’s reasonable and realistic. It would cost them a lot more [to start their own police force], and they need to pony up and pay a reasonable amount in support of the better good for Beaufort County.”
Cost of services
In February, Beaufort County agreed to pay consulting firm TischlerBise, LLC $26,160 to calculate the actual cost of providing police services to Hilton Head and ways the county can retrieve payment. The results of the study have not come back yet.
In November, when McCann decided to strip the payment of services to Beaufort County, his reasoning was that Hilton Head taxpayers were shelling out twice for law enforcement services: once in taxes property owners pay to Beaufort County and again in the form of the $3.6 million annual payment from the town’s general fund.
He said the additional payments happened with a “misplaced understanding” that Hilton Head was paying extra for more services in comparison with other towns. After meeting earlier this year with Sheriff Tanner, McCann said he realized the town was getting the same amount of law enforcement.
But McCann said the island is getting only “minimal” services from the sheriff’s office on things like town ordinances, so he proposed the town reduce its funding of the sheriff’s office at the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2020.
Even trade?
In November, McCann suggested the town assume responsibility for three different areas where the county spends money on the island in exchange for the $3 million budget cut:
▪ Take over responsibility for six county-maintained parks on the island: Barker Field and Barker Field extension, Crossings Park, Bristol Sports Arena, Chaplin Community Park and Old Schoolhouse Park
▪ Relieve the county of around $300,000 in subsidies to the Island Recreation Association
▪ Accept ownership and responsibility of the 76 county-owned roads on the island
However, county leaders do not see this as an even trade.
“This is a pattern,” Flewelling said. “All the other municipalities handle their police services except for Hilton Head, who seems to want to pawn it off to the county. Hilton Head can talk all they want about how much they give to the county coffers, but they need to raise their taxes to handle their responsibilities.”
He said Hilton Head is “taking advantage of the rest of the county.”
“They need to step up. We don’t need to negotiate,” he said. “We’re just going to bill them. We’ll find a way to get it. If it ends up in court, that’s their responsibility.”
On Monday, to make up some of the lost revenue, Beaufort County public facility committee members considered forcing Hilton Head to pay for its own convenience center, threatening to cease operations if the town refused payment.
Dave Wilhelm, the county’s public works director, said it costs the county between $700,000 and $800,000 for the convenience center.
However, committee members decided to hold off on any debates until they could read McCann’s May 18 letter.
In the letter addressed to Passiment, McCann said he would like to present his new plan to county council. That meeting has not been set.
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 3:51 PM.
