By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Beaufort County Council had their second reading and public hearing on the 2024 Transportation Sales and Use Tax referendum on Monday, Feb. 12, during their meeting and it passed with nine council members voting for and two voting against.
Beaufort County Council Chairman Joseph Passiment took a few moments both before and after the public hearing to try and assure members of the public that, while it may feel rushed, council members are taking their time to truly understand every bit of this ordinance and do their “due diligence” before the public would vote on the referendum in November.
“This has to do with the quality of life that we will have for the future,” Passiment said.
Two amendments were made to the ordinance during the second reading.
Councilwoman Alice Howard made the motion to remove the last sentence from section 2.3 of the ordinance – “All proceeds of the Sales and Use Tax and all proceeds of any bonds payable therefrom shall be held by the County until the County Council has approved the allocation and expenditure of funds for the Projects or portions of the Projects, as further identified herein.”
Secondly, a motion was made by Councilman Logan Cunningham to add an amendment to restrict any person currently serving on a council or government body from serving on the Citizen’s Oversight Committee, whose purpose is to “provide oversight of the Projects described in [the] Ordinance, to gather input from all areas of the County regarding the general projects to be undertaken with proceeds of the Sales and Use Tax and to make recommendations to the County Council on matters related to the Sales and Use Tax, including but not limited to, the general projects and prioritization of the Projects.”
Both amendments were passed unanimously, but Council members Paula Brown and Thomas Reitz voted against passing the ordinance on the second reading.
Although the rest of the council members present for the meeting voted to pass the ordinance on its second reading, several of the members sought more information about details of how the money will be spent before agreeing to vote for the ordnance in its third and final reading.
Councilman Gerald Dawson stated that he would not vote for the ordinance following the third reading if he was not provided with assurances that the unpaved, dirt roads in Beaufort County were going to be paved.
The referendum would be added to the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot for voters to decide on.
If the referendum passes, a 1% Sales and Use Tax shall be implemented for a period of 15 years or until $1.625 billion dollars have been collected to fund projects deemed necessary and the costs of highways, roads, streets, bridges, and other transportation-related projects.
Some major projects that are listed in the ordinance that are recommended to receive funding are Ribaut Road Improvements, $75 million, formerly referred to as Reimagine Ribaut Road project; and Lady’s Island Corridor Traffic Improvements, $40 million.
The ordinance has also estimated $100 million to fund multimodal transportation planning and implementation, including marine transport and commercial airport improvements; $250 million for safety improvements along roadways and intersections, including pedestrian accommodations; $90 million for improvements to transportation infrastructure to address flooding, rising sea levels, stormwater and drainage; $180 million in road resurfacing and preservation of roadways; $180 million for the designing and construction of bike and pedestrian accommodations throughout the county in accordance with the Beaufort County Connects Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan 2021; and $90 million for the planning, design, right of way acquisition and construction of access roads for better interconnectivity.
The maximum amount to be collected for Projects and purposes shall be no more than $1.54 billion.
Additionally, the tax would be used to finance the costs of greenbelt initiatives, including but not limited to, purchasing property for conservation and conservation easements, creating passive and active greenspaces, protecting natural resources, protecting agricultural or heritage landscapes and protecting scenic corridors.
The total amount to be collected to fund greenbelt initiatives shall be no more than $85 million, according to the ordinance.
According to the ordinance, if voters pass the referendum in Nov. 2024, the tax will be imposed on May 1, 2025.
Passiment said that there will be a third reading of the ordinance, but before there is, he plans to put together a meeting between the municipal representatives, the Beaufort County legal team and select members of council, because he does not want it to be a public meeting, to make sure that everyone understands the language that is in the supporting documents.
“This is critical that we have complete understanding, complete enthusiasm, complete buying-in to this referendum,” said Passiment. “It is a lot of money. It is going to do a lot of things for the quality of life for the people who live here, work here and play here.”
Delayna Earley formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
