Hilton Head OKs $2 million in Sheriff’s Office funding. What it means for residents
Appearing to back off from its refusal to pay Beaufort County for policing services and avoiding a separate tax for residents, Hilton Head Island’s Town Council voted Tuesday to pay $2 million a year to the county for law enforcement services from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
In addition, the council voted to take over maintenance of county-owned roads and parks on the island, a swift departure from Mayor John McCann’s surprise announcement in November that the town would trade paying for the Sheriff’s Office services in return for ownership of the parks and roads.
McCann and Hilton Head Town Council members have said the island pays twice for policing: once in taxes property owners pay to the county and again in the form of a $3.6-million annual payment from the town’s general fund.
But county leaders have said the town’s residents pay the same as other municipalities, which pay county taxes and local taxes for their own police departments.
In early July, TischlerBise Inc., the consulting firm the county hired to determine the actual costs of sheriff services, told officials that it costs Beaufort County about $4.4 million a year to police Hilton Head.
Outraged at the potential hole in the budget and facing more lost revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, county leaders threatened to take the town to court and proposed an additional fee that island residents would pay for policing. The proposed fee would have been between $88 and $101 a year for residents, The Island Packet reported.
That same week, County Council member Stu Rodman, who lives in Sea Pines, said the sheriff provides different levels of service to certain parts of the island — especially gated communities that have their own private security firms — and that residents in these neighborhoods would have to shell out more money if the fee was approved.
The decision matters because it illustrates how Hilton Head, which brings in the lion’s share of tourism taxes and has the largest population of the county’s four municipalities, must balance its contributions and demands of the county.
“This is a pattern,” County Council member Brian Flewelling said in May. “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.”
McCann’s November position brought full-circle long-simmering tension in the town about its relationship with the sheriff’s office that dates back to the term of former Mayor David Bennett. Those tensions include a 2018 audit that concluded the sheriff’s office was not using a data-driven approach to address crime and traffic issues and spent too much time pursuing 911 hangups and false alarms.
Tuesday’s reversal by Hilton Head appears to abandon those issues to appease the county and stay out of court. McCann, who is recovering from a fall, was not in the meeting.
Two town council members disagreed with the arrangement.
David Ames, who has in the past has agreed that the town is paying twice for sheriff’s office services, and Tamara Becker voted against the measure.
“It’s unfair to the taxpayers of Hilton Head,” Ames said. “The town is paying 60% of the sheriff’s budget and getting 17% of the services.”
Ames said the town’s contributions to the Sheriff’s budget top $12 million via property taxes. He said the additional $3 million contribution was put in place under a different sheriff when Hilton Head was getting extra services.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said he serves every municipality equally, and that Hilton Head does not get extra policing.
Ames said he “appreciates the Sheriff’s pledge to serve the county residents equally.”
What’s the agreement?
Here is what the Town Council approved:
- Pay Beaufort County $2 million a year for three years for Sheriff’s Office services.
- Take over maintenance responsibility, but not ownership, 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
- Accept maintenance responsibility, but not ownership, of the 76 county-owned roads on the island
Town staff told the council they estimated the maintenance on parks and roads would cost $2.5 million and the town should expect $7 million in projects in the parks and on the roads in coming years.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 12:16 PM.
