1-cent sales tax referendum in the works for Beaufort County. What $700M would fund
Beaufort County residents could be voting on whether to approve another penny sales tax as soon as November.
The 1% sales tax, if approved, would raise an estimated $700 million for infrastructure projects planned north and south of the Broad River.
Beaufort County Council members will begin the discussion Monday night on whether to place the question before voters who OK’d a penny tax in 2018 that ended Jan. 1. Three readings and approvals are necessary.
A 19-member Citizen Transportation Advisory Committee, which has been studying the county’s transportation and “mobility” needs for months, unanimously agreed to recommend the sales tax to the County Council.
“It appears that we are not just behind the ‘8 ball, ’we are under it,” Dean Moss, chairman of the committee, said in a memorandum to the County Council regarding the county’s transportation needs. “And it will take a coordinated public relations effort to move even this limited referendum forward for a better mobility future for all of us.”
As committee members studied the transportation needs in the county, Moss said, it became evident “that there is much to do.”
The $700 million, he said, would enable the county to develop solutions for problems caused by an “overwhelmed and aging infrastructure system” and plan for the future.
In addition, Moss said, the locally generated funds could be multiplied several times by aggressive pursuit of matching federal and state funds and the development of coordinated projects with Jasper County.
The committee is recommending that the council prepare a referendum question on the 1% additional sales tax and place it on the ballot at the earliest possible date, Nov. 8.
It approved, the 1-cent tax would begin the following year and extend for 10 years.
Beaufort County’s sales tax dropped from 7% percent to 6% beginning in January, when the transportation tax that voters approved in 2018 ended.
General projects
County Administrator Eric Greenway called the list of projects that the tax would fund “balanced,” adding that the improvements would reduce commute times and boost business opportunities and quality of life.
The committee came up with a list of projects and funding amounts:
▪ $60M to create greenbelts, acquiring property to establish a balance between environmental protection and rapid development growth
▪ $25M in mass transit; including Ferry Transport, to get people to work faster
▪ $50M to enhance safety around roadways
▪ $50M to pave county-owned dirt roads north of the Broad River
▪ $60M to resurfacing roadways to bring all roadways up to a very good rating
▪ $50M for joint use pathways following the Beaufort County Connects Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan 2021
▪ $50m Transportation Technologies/Access to bring the latest technologies in traffic control, signals, and other areas to Beaufort County
▪ $20 resiliency funding to harden roadways against large hurricanes and rising sea levels north of the Broad River
Individual Projects
▪ $80M for the state Highway 170 improvements from U.S. Highway 278 to state Highway 462 (Okatie/Beaufort)
▪ $75M for U.S. Highway 21 and US 21 (Bus)/SC 281 improvements from Bell Bridge to Boundary Street and Wood Memorial Bridge to improve capacity (Beaufort/Port Royal)
▪ $20M for SC 46 from SC 170 to Jasper County and safety improvements from SC170 to Buckwalter that do not disrupt the Scenic Byway designation (Bluffton)
▪ $40M Hilton Head Project. Intersection improvements, pathways, and resurfacing (Hilton Head)
▪ $40M for the U.S. Highway 278 improvement to support the citizens of the Town of Hilton Head’s suggestions for the project. (Hilton Head)
▪ $40M Lady’s Island corridor to complete all the Lady’s Island corridor traffic improvements. (Lady’s Island/St. Helena)
▪ $40M Bluffton Regional Roadway Network Implementation for any or all Bluffton projects listed as priorities in the approved LATS Transportation Plan. (Bluffton)
County spokesman Chris Ophardt said the county is scheduling meetings with each town about the projects.
In 2018, Beaufort County voters approved a 1-cent sales tax to improve infrastructure in the growing county that raised $120 million for transportation projects, including: $80 million to help overhaul the bridges leading to Hilton Head Island, $30 million for a corridor project on Lady’s Island, and $10 million to improve county sidewalks and paths.
That tax expired in January 2022.
Unlike the 2018 penny sales tax, Ophardt said, the county has initial plans in place for all of the proposed projects that would be funded by the 2022 penny tax. As a result, if the tax is approved, it would allow the public comment process and ultimately construction to begin sooner.
In November, voters shot down a new 1% sales tax referendum that would have funded tax credits for property owners and paid for municipal government projects. One criticism of that proposal was there was no ending date for the tax.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 3:02 PM.
