Hilton Head leaders threaten legal action over extra police fee approved by Beaufort Co.
Hilton Head Island residents could be facing a new fee for law enforcement services from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office after a nearly yearlong disagreement between the town and Beaufort County on how the island, which doesn’t have its own police force, should pay for policing.
The fee, approved by Beaufort County Council on Monday, prompted a fiery response from Hilton Head officials Tuesday afternoon. Town Manager Steve Riley and Mayor John McCann threatened legal action to block the law enforcement fee, which they called “illegal and unconscionable.”
Hilton Head Island used to pay $3.6 million to the county annually for law enforcement, in addition to property owners paying taxes to the county. In July, town leaders offered to pay just $2 million a year to keep the county from assessing property owners individually. The town was poised to take over maintenance responsibilities for some county-owned parks and roads in exchange for nixing the extra payment.
Instead, the County Council voted to impose the fee, which ranges from $33 to $242 per property and would be added to residents’ annual tax bills. Riley and McCann balked at the county’s decision.
“This charge would generate surplus revenue for Beaufort County on top of the approximately $52 million that it already receives annually from Hilton Head Island. We vehemently object to this charge,” the news release said.
Hilton Head’s Town Council has called a special meeting for Thursday, when the group will meet in executive session to receive “legal advice relating to pending, threatened, or potential litigation.”
Town leaders argue that islanders pay twice for sheriff’s office deputies to respond to calls. In November, citing the double payments, McCann stripped $3.6 million from the amount the town had planned to send the county. County officials responded that McCann’s move created inequities across the board and shortchanged the county’s budget by over $4 million.
“The citizens of Beaufort County are owed some money,” Council Member Brian Flewelling said Monday. “All the other citizens ... are basically subsidizing the cost of law enforcement, or at least a large part of it, in the Town of Hilton Head. It’s unfair to the rest of the citizens to shoulder that burden.”
County Council voted 9-2 to approve the service fee. Hilton Head’s representatives, Stewart Rodman and Lawrence McElynn, voted against the fee. Rodman moved to postpone the vote on the fee to mid-September, but his motion failed.
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.
What is the fee?
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.
Earlier this summer, Julie Herlands, a consultant at TischlerBise, outlined how the county could implement a user fee schedule.
Her proposal, which includes fees for residential and non-residential properties, would bring in an estimated $4.4 million to cover the costs of sheriff’s services to the island.
It includes:
- A $101 fee for single-family units
- An $88 fee for multi-family units
- A $242 fee for 1,000 square feet of retail space
- An $82 fee for 1,000 square feet of office/service space
- A $33 fee for 1,000 square feet of industrial space
- A $90 fee for 1,000 square feet of institutional space
- A $69 fee per room for lodging
The fee proposal is subject to change, and council has final say on what it looks like and how it will be implemented, Council member Chris Hervochon said in July.
The fees would likely be added to property owners’ tax bills, Hervochon said. Beaufort County tax bills are finalized in October.
Does Hilton Head pay less than everyone else?
In a Wednesday afternoon news release, County Council Chair Joe Passiment defended the imposition of a user fee when comparing Hilton Head’s contributions to the sheriff’s office.
“The other municipalities in Beaufort County are smaller in population and receive far fewer tourists than Hilton Head each year, but each has its own police department,” he wrote. “As the Town of Hilton Head’s population and daily number of visitors increased, so too did the Town’s law enforcement needs.”
In addition to paying the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office for secondary services, the Town of Bluffton pays $6.6 million annually for its own police agency, and the City of Beaufort pays $4.5 million for its department.
How did we get here?
In November, when McCann stripped the payment of services to Beaufort County, he reasoned 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 P.J. Tanner, McCann said he realized the town was getting the same amount of law enforcement services as other places.
But McCann said the island is getting only “minimal” services from the sheriff’s office on such responsibilities as enforcing town ordinances, so he proposed that the town reduce its payment on June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
In return for not paying for sheriff services, McCann suggested that the town assume responsibility of county-maintained parks, the Island Recreation Association and the county-owned roads on the island.
Since that initial letter, the town and county have negotiated several swaps and trades to make up the difference.
In July, Hilton Head appeared to back off from its refusal to pay for policing services. Hilton Head Island’s Town Council voted to pay $2 million a year to the county for law enforcement services and take over maintenance of county-owned roads and parks on the island.
County Council member Hervochon referenced a final offer from the county to Hilton Head last week where the town could have paid less than $4.4 million each year, but he did not elaborate on the details. Hervochon said the town turned down the offer.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 8:12 PM.
