What happened to ‘we already pay’? Hilton Head budgets $2.4M for sheriff’s office
While the Town of Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County governments are tied up in court over how the island should pay for police services from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, property owners are paying more for law enforcement than they did two years ago.
The town has budgeted $2.4 million for public safety on the island next year, which includes policing from the sheriff’s office and lifeguard services from Shore Beach Service, according to a Tuesday budget presentation by Town Manager Marc Orlando.
But the $2.4 million is on top of a $100 extra fee Hilton Head property owners see on their tax bills this year, which will raise $4.4 million.
The budgeting move is a departure from Mayor John McCann’s stance that the island shouldn’t pay for extra policing by the sheriff’s office because residents already pay for law enforcement through their county property taxes. But Hilton Head is the largest municipality in the county and accounts for 82% of calls for service from the department, according to recently filed court documents.
As taxpayers finance the town’s payment to the sheriff as well as the $100 fee, McCann’s strongman position from November 2019 appears to have cost taxpayers more than it has gained them. In 2019, the town paid $3.6 million for policing, but no additional fee was tacked onto property owners’ bills.
The fee costs each property owner between $101 for single-family homes and up to $67,760 for large commercial developments such as Shelter Cove Towne Centre. The fee will make up for the change in the county’s budget when Hilton Head pulled the Sheriff’s Office funding in 2019. The fee amount was calculated by TischlerBise Inc., the consulting firm the county hired to determine the actual costs of sheriff services on the island.
Meanwhile, a website launched by the town that once asserted “we already pay” for policing, contains outdated information about county leadership and doesn’t appear to have been updated since December.
Hilton Head, County police lawsuit
The lawsuit between the town and county continues to wind through the Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas.
Town Council Attorney Curtis Coltrane said Wednesday the parties will meet Friday for potential mediation.
Either way, Hilton Head taxpayers are on the hook for the police fee this year as the parties try to settle their differences.
At the heart of the issue is the town’s desire to stop paying what leaders consider to be extra money for the same level of service that unincorporated areas get from Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner and his deputies.
Hilton Head is the only municipality in the county without its own police department, and town leaders were under the impression they paid more for extra services from the sheriff’s office until 2019. When Tanner said he polices the entire county equally, McCann and others bristled, and threatened to yank the $3 million the island was paying for police services at the time.
But Beaufort County doubled down.
County leaders ran a study, determined it costs $4.3 million to police Hilton Head, and instituted a separate police fee to make up for the money it expected to lose when McCann pulled the funding.
“The Town insists that taxpayers in other municipalities underwrite the Town’s choice not to have its own police department,” attorneys representing the county wrote in a recent filing.
Now, taxpayers are stuck paying both the police fee and having their taxes to the town used for public safety services.
However, the amount budgeted for policing and lifeguard service has decreased, along with McCann’s plan to phase out that budget item.
Hilton Head will pay 34% less than last year for public safety services.
This story was originally published May 13, 2021 at 10:34 AM.
