Lawmakers set aside $3.2M for projects in Beaufort County. Where the money’s going

A handful of local projects will see at least $3.2 million in state tax dollars, thanks to money earmarked by Beaufort County legislators in the state budget that takes effect on Thursday and was approved over objections from S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster.

Among the projects receiving the money are Port Royal’s shrimp docks, a historic baseball diamond in Bluffton and a Lowcountry nonprofit health care provider, as well as the offices of the county’s sheriff and top prosecutor.

The earmarks, state funding set aside for pet projects at individual lawmakers’ request, received scrutiny following more than a year of reporting by The State newspaper and The Island Packet that revealed how legislators previously directed money to local groups through a process shrouded in secrecy, at times benefiting organizations they had close ties with.

This year, thanks in part to a new transparency rule in the S.C. Senate, comprehensive lists of earmark requests and the organizations receiving them were released to the public ahead of budget votes.

McMaster still axed money for over 200 projects, saying lawmakers weren’t transparent enough with the spending.

But on Tuesday, the General Assembly overrode the governor’s vetoes, restoring about $152.5 million in earmarks for local projects across the state.

Here’s how some of that money will trickle down to Beaufort County.

Port Royal shrimp docks enter new phase with state dollars

In the state budget, lawmakers designated a total of $900,000 for repairs and redevelopment of a town-run shrimp dock in Port Royal, where seafood processing operations will be suspended after years of financial losses.

“This is fantastic,” said Port Royal Town Manager Van Willis. “It gives us an opportunity to tee up shrimping and fishing in such a way that it will be nice transition to a third-party operator.”

Until this year, the docks on Battery Creek were run by town contractors, who attracted FBI scrutiny for alleged civil rights violations, The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported in March. The town intends to renovate and construct a new dock, as well as a multi-purpose building that could be used for seafood processing, Willis said.

“It’s the only publicly owned shrimp dock on the eastern coast of the United States,” said Rep. Shannon Erickson, a Beaufort Republican who sponsored the earmarked money. “It’s a critical needs area for protection of that industry.”

Port Royal has long kept the dock operations afloat with no outside support. “It’s time for us to consider that it’s also a state responsibility,” Erickson said.

County law enforcement and prosecutor see earmarks

Several local law enforcement programs will also see earmarked dollars, thanks to requests sponsored by state Rep. Bill Herbkersman, a Bluffton Republican.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s office will get a half-million-dollar boost for its crime lab, mirroring earmarks the agency has received in prior years because of Herbkersman.

The lab processes DNA, fingerprints, drug samples and evidence in arson cases for police departments in Beaufort and neighboring counties, reducing the burden on the state’s crime lab, Sheriff P.J. Tanner previously told the newspapers.

The 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office is also slated to receive $1 million for a sexual assault victims program that will establish a facility with classrooms and mock courtrooms. The program will help train prosecutors in handling cases and give witnesses and victims a less-intimidating environment to practice testifying at the witness stand, Solicitor Duffie Stone said.

The facility, the first of its kind in South Carolina, will also provide space for the office’s sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) to train more nurses in how to care for victims and gather evidence, part of Stone’s plan to address a critical shortage of these professionals, he said.

“I do think it’s something that’s going to have a huge impact on the criminal justice system in South Carolina,” Stone added.

Cybersecurity programs, a historic baseball field and local health care provider

The remaining earmarked money will fund both new initiatives and local groups that have a long history in Beaufort County.

Lawmakers directed $375,000 to Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services Inc., a nonprofit network of medical centers delivering low-cost care to low-income residents.

The money will fund long-overdue facility renovations, Herbkersman, who sponsored the funding, said. Specifically, the organization hopes to add exam rooms and possibly a drive-up pharmacy to the 21-year-old Chelsea Medical Center in Okatie, which BJHCHS plans to use as a treatment location during hurricane emergencies, according to CEO Roland Gardner.

Another $50,000 will go to the nonprofit that manages Bluffton’s Eagles Field, a historic baseball diamond dating back to the 1930s located on the 14-acre Sam Bennett Sports Complex at the corner of Buck Island Road and Bluffton Parkway.

The Bluffton Eagles, a historically Black semi-professional team formed in the 1960s, long called the field home.

Its bathrooms now need to be renovated to make the complex more hospitable to visitors, said Fred Hamilton, a Bluffton town council member involved with the facility.

A newly formed cybersecurity initiative aimed at training Lowcountry students and luring technology firms to Beaufort will also see $450,000 in earmarked funds sent to the City of Beaufort, one of the group’s partners.

The South Coast Cyber Center has also garnered federal funding for its efforts to establish cybersecurity degree programs at local colleges.

“It’s a great service for the state of South Carolina for us to be growing our own professionals in this industry, and to be able to provide the services for our businesses and our military,” Erickson, the lawmaker who sponsored the earmark, said.

Erickson praised the efforts of all of Beaufort County’s state legislators in securing state funds, including an effort to bring funding for the University of South Carolina Beaufort to per-student parity with other state institutions, which was finally achieved this year.

“We’re very proud of the work that we’re doing to make sure that the funding that our citizens are paying in taxes is coming back to our county in a responsible way,” she said.

This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 2:52 PM.

Lucas Smolcic Larson

The Island Packet

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Lucas Smolcic Larson joined The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette as a projects reporter in 2019, after graduating from Brown University. His work has won Rhode Island and South Carolina Press Association awards for education and investigative reporting. He previously worked as an intern at The Washington Post and the Investigative Reporting Workshop in Washington D.C. Lucas hails from central Pennsylvania and speaks Spanish and Portuguese.