By Ann Ubelis
This month, on Monday, Oct. 21, early voting begins in South Carolina. Much is at stake on this ballot, for the nation, the state of South Carolina and in Beaufort County. This election, Beaufort County Council is placing two referendums on the ballot. They encompass more than $1 billion in taxpayer liability.
Let’s look at the first referendum.
County Council is asking you to trust them with $950 Million for a 2024 Transportation Sales and Use Tax (TST) that will last 10 years, starting next May. They call it a “penny tax,” but it is a 1% sales tax on all taxable goods and services countywide.
What is different? Previous Transportation Sales Tax Referendums, dating back to 1998, were limited in scope, did not exceed $152 Million, or six years in length. This referendum fails to meet the previous standards.
In 2018, we passed a Transportation Sales Tax, for $120 Million over four years containing 34 projects. To date, only four of the 34 projects are completed. The vast majority of those remaining are in the “pre-design” or “design” stages.
Council told the public, inflation and cost over-runs were a reason for projects not moving forward and projects were slowed down due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This doesn’t seem to jive. Protocol requires multiple contract bids and adherence to the contracts cost packages. Why weren’t contractors held to their bids?
The COVID lockdowns were another excuse to fail to move forward on the projects. This is hard to understand with the number of projects still in “pre-design” or “design” stages. With COVID lockdowns, there was extensive use of off-site work teams, using ZOOM, Skype and other internet apps. Government entities and businesses were able to maintain work flow continuity. Why didn’t this happen with the 2018 TST projects?
According to the Beaufort County Penny Tax website 2024 Financial Statement, approximately $150 million remains from the 2018 TST. So, this begs to question, why isn’t County Council moving forward on completing the 2018 TST projects before asking for additional money for new projects? Worse, Council has included the unfinished 2018 TST projects in with the projected 2024 TST projects. We call that “double dipping.”
What drew the taxpayers’ critical eye to the 2024 TST Referendum was the original price tag of $1.65 billion over 15 years. During the January and February 2024 County Council public meetings, where the Ordinance Referendum for the 2024 TST was read and discussed, the public expressed disapproval with the referendum. They despised the amount and the life span of the referendum. The demand from the public, is that the 2018 projects should be completed, before Council places a new TST referendum on the ballot.
What is different about the 2024 referendum and the previous three referendums? Those projects were clearly defined. The 2024 referendum contains projects that are vague, not clearly defined. The referendum also contains slush funds for wish lists by Council and project administrators.
The best surprise for the voters is that the second referendum did not appear until the final reading of the ordinance. In the three previous public council meetings, when the ordinance was read, only the 2024 Transportation Sales and Use Tax Referendum was read. All public discussion dealt with only the 2024 TST Referendum.
Suddenly, in the final reading on June 24th, was a second referendum in the ordinance for a $515 Million General Obligation Bonds Issuance. In that reading was the only time the public was notified of any bond referendum. It was placed on the ballot, without the mandatory three readings and public discussion.
According to South Carolina Code, Council is required to present three public readings and discussions of an ordinance, with a vote before it can be placed on the ballot. While council may have followed the letter of the law, they did not follow it’s intent. By not placing information before the public in Council Public Meetings, Information Sessions and on county web sites, that promoted and informed about the Ordinance containing a “Penny Tax Referendum” to include a second referendum for a Bond Issuance, they neglected to adhere to it’s intent.
Council and County Assistant Administrator Jared Fralix made numerous presentations about the ordinance, always presenting only the 2024 TST Referendum. A search of the websites, including the BeaufortCountyPenny.com page does not have any reference to the Bond Referendum. Fralix could not provide a reason or explanation for this omission. Omitting a $515 Million General Obligation Bond Referendum from public presentations, county websites and County Council public meetings is one heck of a mistake. Or is it?
Now, it’s up to you, the voter. You must decide if you can trust County Council with both referendums? Can you trust this County Council after they withheld, for nine months, from Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffy Stone and S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson a report of possible criminal actions. It detailed the investigation into complaints of malfeasance and misconduct by county officials and employees involving county funds and county services.
When Wilson had to convene a grand jury to issue subpoenas to County Council in reference to this misconduct, can you trust this county to responsibly administer the sales tax and bonds issuance?
When you step up to the voting machine and scroll down ballot to the Local Issues, on Referendums 1 and 2, ask yourself, what has County Council hidden from us and why? Before we give them one more penny of our money, let’s demand they earn back our trust. Tell them by voting no!
Tell them to finish the 2018 projects first, then come back with a new referendum for new projects, for less money and a shorter time period. Demand they first clean house and give us responsible and a transparent government. No trust, no tax!
They fooled us once before. Vote “No” on the “Fool Me Twice Tax!”
Ann Ubelis is a retired business owner and manager. She is co-founder and Chair of the Beaufort TEA Party and hosts a weekly podcast, Southern Sense Talk.
