Impact fees on top of budget talks like watching sausage being made
By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
It’s budget season for local governments, where the end of June as the deadline for adopting a balanced operating plan for the coming year, starting July 1.
And while the round-table discussions taking place with the local elected officials anxious about any type of “tax increase,” there seems to be more media focus on the newly enacted impact fees which, according to a recent article in The Beaufort Gazette, are going to increase 375% on a new house.
Hopefully before any new potential home buyer faints from headline shock, they will consider the wonderful potential of living here in the Lowcountry, where we’re almost monthly named on some “Best of …” locations in the country/Southeast list for one characteristic or another.
And hopefully those who already live here in the Lowcountry realize these new impact fees have been discussed for the past decade (and are used all over the country) as methods to get newcomers to help pay for services like fire protection, new libraries, new recreation facilities, new parks.
The fees were developed by the county folks and a series of consultants, with input from the municipal leaders who are finding themselves stretched further and further to pay for these services all these new folks are requiring.
The fees, which are based on an elaborate system according to the size of the new house, will be charged for new commercial construction but on a different scale.
As you can imagine, if you care to think about it, it’s not a simple proposal but it’s one the elected officials hope will help cover costs. It’s also going to be interesting to see how the new fees impact new construction, possibly slowing it down?
You can be sure those elected officials are going to be monitoring that impact.
And up in the Statehouse
COLUMBIA – Speaking of budgets, our elected leaders in Columbia haven’t finished their work although their “official” schedule called for them to conclude the session on May 11.
In case you missed it, Gov. Henry McMaster called the gang back into session to finish the budget and other matters, which included a controversial abortion ban.
The Senate spent all of last week hammering out legislation for a ban on abortions beyond the six-week pregnancy period, a bill that was eventually supported by our own Senators, Tom Davis (who now represents south of the Broad River) and Chip Campsen.
Quick summary: the legislation was immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court, where it will be debated at length, costing taxpayers additional dollars.
This coming week, once budget committee members come back after a Memorial Day holiday, it’s possible they’ll finish up the state budget … or not.
A sticking point in the proposed $13 billion budget, according to news reports, is the allocations for the University of South Carolina and Clemson. Included in those budgets are $10 million for a 4,000 seat convention center at the USC Beaufort campus in Bluffton and $10 million for a new workforce development center at the Technical College of the Lowcountry campus in Bluffton.
Rainy, windy weekend but it was no Arlene
BEAUFORT – Well, it didn’t happen.
The 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season did not start early.
The season officially begins June 1 and while it did feel and act something like a mini-hurricane this past weekend, it wasn’t one.
In last week’s column, there was speculation about what the king high tides are doing to the Lowcountry. This past weekend’s winds and rain plus unseasonable low temperatures associated with the weekend managed to put something of a damper on Friday and Saturday’s Original Gullah Festival and visits to the beach.
But we’re still waiting on that first one, Arlene.
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. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
