County should not be a real estate developer
Beaufort County should not be in the real estate development business.
County Council should stop plans to construct a new $4 million office building on land the county owns adjacent to the Myrtle Park facility off Bluffton Parkway.
Private owners of office space should not have to compete against the county government in the free marketplace.
Certainly, the government should encourage economic development and a diversified economy. But it does not need to be a real estate developer to do that, and it should not be a real estate developer. That is the wrong answer. It is misuse of funds. It is a misuse of time and talent by the county staff.
Instead, the government should lay the groundwork for others to succeed.
That includes seeing to it that roads are not clogged, rivers are not polluted, potholes are filled, utilities are in place, growth is controlled, parking and public transportation are available, and tax rates are reasonable.
The county should have its hands full providing first responders to save lives and property. It should focus on the many subtle ways government makes a community enticing for private development: police, courts, judges, jails, prosecutors, public defenders, solid waste disposal, land and development-rights acquisition, building inspections, code enforcement, regional planning, libraries, beautification, stormwater management, animal control, mosquito control, and planning for natural disasters, to name a few.
Most importantly, the government can diversify the economy by investing more in schools, through the Beaufort County School District, the Technical College of the Lowcountry and the University of South Carolina Beaufort. The greatest incentive available for economic development is a smart workforce. And that investment does more than anything to improve the overall quality of life, which is the other primary incentive for new business.
The only real estate development the government should be involved in is the grunt work behind the scenes. It should do the things that the private sector cannot do by itself. It should enable the private sector to sell “location, location, location.”
That is the role of government.
If we have learned anything over the past 60 years in Beaufort County, it is that the private sector is perfectly capable of real estate development. Beaufort County should get out of this boondoggle before the first spade of dirt is turned.
This story was originally published March 2, 2017 at 6:11 PM with the headline "County should not be a real estate developer."