Hilton Head’s new venue committee discusses timing of sales-tax request

A new Hilton Head Island committee, charged with studying a potential arts campus for the island, is worried about timing.

At its first meeting Wednesday, some members expressed concern that they must make recommendations to Town Council by December, but Beaufort County voters will head to the polls one month earlier — in November— to consider giving as much as $9.5 million for the campus. The money would come from a county wide sales-tax increase.

Town Council member Kim Likins explained to committee members that the committee’s work, not the sales-tax proposal’s results, will guide the town’s decision on whether to pursue the arts campus.

The sales-tax increase, assuming it passes, would provide just a fraction of what a new campus would cost. One proposal has pegged it at as much as $65 million and includes an outdoor amphitheater where performers such as Tony Bennett and Darius Rucker would perform, an indoor concert hall for the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and additional space for other local arts groups.

“We knew that if we ever did something, ...it would take ...multiple funding sources,” Likins said.

The committee also discussed its scope of work, which includes the cost and funding for any proposed new venues as well as the town’s role in supporting those venues.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” said the committee’s vice chairman Jane Joseph. “It’s going to be a huge challenge to get this done by December.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Hilton Head’s new venue committee discusses timing of sales-tax request."