'Bucket of money that scratches issue.' Spartanburg County moves closer to penny sales tax
Spartanburg County Council plans to pursue about $475 million for road improvement projects to be funded by a new six-year penny sales tax. Voters will be asked to approve the tax in November.
"It's the only bucket of money that scratches the issue," Chairman Manning Lynch said at a special meeting Tuesday, May 9. "There's nothing we can do short of asking people to allow (a tax) of this magnitude to improve our county roads, to get them in the condition that we all aspire them to be."
County Council agreed to forward a lengthy list of proposed road and bridge projects to a newly created six-member commission to draft a referendum for the November ballot.
The current penny sales tax, overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2017, increased the sales tax from 6 cents to 7 cents for six years, starting May 1, 2018, and ending April 30, 2024.
It has raised revenues to pay for a new county courthouse, emergency operations center, city police station and a new city-county government complex.
If approved, the new tax would kick in right after that, and last for another six years.
"This is not an additional penny tax," Councilman Justin McCorkle said. "The one we have in place is ending. This would just continue it. We're not adding anything."
Public Works Director Travis Brown said the list of project categories includes:
➤ S.C. Department of Transportation asphalt pavement improvements, $157 million.
➤ County asphalt pavement improvements, $165 million.
➤ Intersection improvements, $42 million.
➤ County corridor reconstruction, $40 million.
➤ Stormwater improvement, $28 million.
➤ Bridge replacement, $23 million.
➤ Municipal paving, $12 million.
➤ County safety and other improvements, $9 million.
Spartanburg County takes first step Spartanburg County takes first step toward extending penny sales tax for road fixes
He said projects on the list will be "concentrated in areas of higher growth" and take into account pavement condition, traffic counts, crash data and functionality.
Councilman Bob Walker said a sales tax to pay for road fixes is better than raising property taxes.
"We're allowing everybody to contribute, even those that don't live in this county," Walker said. "When they purchase something, the sales tax is going to be there. I sure don't want to raise property taxes. This is the alternative we've got."
The county maintains more than 1,700 miles of roads and 150 bridges. An estimated 45% of them are classified as poor condition, and the SCDOT estimates that 60% of the state's secondary roads in the county are also in poor condition.
Councilman David Britt said he's been asked why the county doesn't simply use revenues from the record economic growth of the past few years. Last year, dozens of new or existing companies announced more than $4 billion in investment and more than 2,100 new jobs, according to county officials.
A record year of economic growth Spartanburg County announces 2 new projects totaling $193 million heading into 2023
"All that economic development money, new homes, taxes people pay – the county only gets a little less than 17% of those dollars," Britt said. "Each school district in Spartanburg County gets about 70% of those tax dollars.
"When you put the pencil to paper and start doing the math, it would take us over 100 years, potentially up to 125 years, to raise $475 million this one-cent sales tax will do. This is the best tool. I think we have a team that's proven it, and we'll prove it again."
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburg County's penny sales tax road projects. What to know
