County Council balancing primaries, budget numbers, sales tax referendum
By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
Beaufort County Council was scheduled this week to get a look at their transportation advisory committee’s recommendations for a sales tax question to put on the November ballot.
They don’t have a lot of time to consider their options.
The schedule Council approved in January when they established the 15-member advisory committee set final reading to the ballot referendum ordinance in July, giving supporters of the traffic improvement sales tax four months to campaign for its passage.
Pretty impressive schedule when you consider five of the 11 Council members are facing re-election campaigns, although one of those five – David Bartholomew of District 2 – has no opposition in the primary or in the November election. Three of the Council veterans – Alice Howard, District 4; Joseph Passiment, District 5; and Larry McElynn, District 10 — are not seeking re-election so, theoretically, they’ll have time to focus on that sales tax campaign.
But wait a minute, the Council is also working on a multi-million FY 2027 budget package which has already sparked some friction in the early discussions.
They cut the county Human Services Department, handing those duties over to Alcohol and Drug Abuse Department.
County Treasurer Maria Walls, who is also facing opposition this year for re-election, told County Council last week approximately $700,000 has already been spent in a lawsuit she filed against the county challenging $73,000 salary increases for her staff, according to Tony Kukulich of The Post and Courier. Walls, who has been treasurer since 2015, filed the lawsuit challenging county budget administrators had no authority to alter her budget and that suit is making its way through the court.
And of course, the Council has no way of knowing how much a recent federal court ruling involving strip searches of some 8,000 female inmates in the county detention center is going to cost taxpayers. The March 31 ruling on the class-action lawsuit is being challenged by county attorneys and still to be determined is how much insurance will pay for any settlement.
In the meantime, those female plaintiffs, arrested and strip searched between 2015 and 2020 can’t spend their settlement yet.
FYI: the detention center staff have revised their strip search policies to equally include males.
And a major budget expense for the legal department will be the ongoing court battle with Pine Island developers who have filed yet another lawsuit to get county approval for a gated residential golf community on St. Helena Island.
No one has put a price tag on those legal expenses incurred during the past three years since Elvio Tropeano purchased the island, but the cost for preserving the community’s rural culture is apparently priceless, according to the citizens who have fought against it and, so far, a majority of the County Council.
Plan a festival, prepare for rain
BEAUFORT — For those who might have missed it two weeks ago, the Taste of Beaufort Festival – expanded this year to include a “Taste of the Arts” event – was … well … wet. But the volunteers who worked long and hard to pull it all together persevered and the proverbial show went on.
The Lowcountry, like much of the Southeast, has been suffering under drought conditions, and the rain, for many, was a welcome sight. Unless you had an outdoor festival planned or maybe a wedding.
But foodies still gathered in the Waterfront Park, art lovers checked out the booths at USC Beaufort’s Carteret Street campus and volunteers from the Northwest Quadrant and the Old Commons huddled under tents in the newly renovated Washington Street Park for some “back in the day” jazz entertainment performed by an extremely talented Battery Creek High School band.
For all the outdoor festivals that are held in Beaufort and Port Royal – not just in the Spring but pretty much year-round — weather is one of those elements you can’t plan for. Ask the Beaufort Water Festival Committee after 70 years, as the festival schedule has grown, they know you just have to be prepared and hope for the best.
You gotta say one thing, Beaufort volunteers, for the most part, are dedicated individuals.
City continues work on park, FY27 budget
BEAUFORT — Yes, the Beaufort City Council has “put to bed” the latest revisions to the short-term rental regulations. But the body of five still have repairs to the Waterfront Park to occupy their time.
The citizens’ advisory committee is scheduled to present Option 2, a plan that repairs the promenade infrastructure and basically leaves the park layout the same, at the May 26 council meeting. Once the council decides whether to accept their recommendation, the work begins on engineering designs and … finding the money, which earlier in the process, was estimated at $30 million.
The Council has already begun work on the proposed $73.5 million budget which includes, at this point, a $32 vehicle tag fee for road maintenance.
They also have to decide if they’re going to endorse the proposed transportation sales tax referendum AND two of them – Mayor Pro tem Mike McFee and Josh Scallate – are up for re-election.
But since municipal elections are non-partisan, filing for those two offices doesn’t begin until August.
Port Royal still waiting on help from Columbia
PORT ROYAL — It may be a stretch to say Port Royal town officials were hoping for help from the S.C. legislative delegation to correct a tax loophole in state law which is costing the town and the county school district close to $1.3 million.
The tax break allows developers of “affordable housing” apartments to avoid paying property taxes if just a percentage of those apartments were “affordable.”
Of course, they reached out to the local delegation for some kind of relief. To date, that relief has not come, according to Town Manager Van Willis.
Indeed, the Legislature adjourns its’ two-year session this week. True, they will go back to complete “unfinished” business but whether relief from that loophole will be on the table is unknown.
The state elected officials have filled those last days with a congressional redistricting plan, per request from the President. They’ve also approved a pay raise for themselves – from $22,400 per year to approximately $47,500 – the first they’ve had since 1990 (but a raise that was rejected by the state Supreme Court last year.) They came close to passing one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country.
But Port Royal officials … and all those other local governmental entities left holding the bag of tax losses thanks to “affordable housing” developers. they’re still waiting, too.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. The Rowland, N.C. native’s goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.