COASTAL OBSERVER

It took six months to put together a list of $74.3 million for funding through a capital projects sales tax. Officials are now worried that voters won’t take the time to read through them when they appear on the November ballot.

“Have you all sat down with a stop watch?” County Council Member Bob Anderson asked at a sales tax forum this week.

The ballot language that Georgetown County Council approved last month is being formatted by the office of Voter Registration and Elections. It should be ready next  week.

By law, the ballot has to list all 22 projects that are guaranteed of funding with the additional 1-cent tax. It also has to list the 19 contingency projects that will receive funds if there is surplus revenue above the $10 million a year the tax is expected to generate for eight years.

Walt Ackerman, the county director of Administrative Services, said he hopes that people will get information about the projects before they go to the polls. That’s one reason the county is holding a series of meetings around the county, including two held over the past week on Waccamaw Neck, where 52 percent of the county’s registered voters live.

“That ain’t going to happen,” Anderson said.

Early voting, which begins Oct. 21, should help, said Madison Cooper, vice president of governmental affairs for the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors.

“If they are going to take more time to read, that would be their opportunity,” she said.

Cooper is a member of the Small Change, Big Impact Committee organized by the Chamber of Commerce to promote passage of the capital projects tax and an additional 1-cent local option sales tax that will be used to reduce property taxes.

But on the county’s electronic voting machines reading the capital projects sales tax question will require scrolling through page after page of projects, costs and brief descriptions to get to the page where they can actually vote yes or no.

“I’m very worried about the length of the question,” Ackerman said.

Another concern is that 60 percent of votes cast in the county are straight party votes.  

The logistics of casting a ballot are in addition to convincing voters to approve what one participant at a forum at the Waccamaw Library noted was a 33 percent tax increase. It will take the current 6 percent state sales tax to 8 cents in Georgetown County, one of three of the state’s 46 counties without a local sales tax.

At a forum last week in Murrells Inlet that was attended by 11 people, several expressed dismay that only a few projects directly benefitting them and their neighbors made the list.

“The end result for District 1 seems to be really, really disappointing. Have you all analyzed how much of this is coming from District 1?” Gary Weinrich said. “We’re generating the revenue for much-needed projects but getting very little benefit to District 1 and also to the Waccamaw Neck.”

Ackerman said there was no way for the county to analyze where the proceeds from the capital projects sales tax come from. However, the county has to track where the money from the local option tax comes from because some of that revenue goes back to the municipalities.

Ackerman believes there is a “big misconception” about how much revenue will come from District 1 as opposed to the rest of the county.

“Certainly the Waccamaw Neck pays the lion’s share of property taxes. That’s an undisputed number. I could calculate that,” he said. “But as far as sales go, it’s not as much from what I’ve gathered. I don’t have any hard, concrete data so I couldn’t put my hand on the Bible and swear to it.”

Jonathan Poore, owner of Express Watersports, said county money and influence tends to roll toward Litchfield and Pawleys Island.

He pointed out that there is nearly $17 million in priority and contingency projects for the Pawleys Island area and only about $4 million for Murrells Inlet. The only priority project in the inlet is $998,000 for the rehabilitation of Wachesaw Park.

“That’s the problem that I see,” he added.

Weinrich asked County Council Member Clint Elliott whether he’d take responsibility for less than $1 million in priority projects going to District 1.

“Yeah, I’ll take responsibility because I put part of the projects in,” Elliott said.

Ackerman said every county resident has a chance to make life better for people who can’t afford to pay for these projects themselves and possibly attract development to more areas of the county. 

“People want to come to Georgetown County but some areas of Georgetown County are financially inaccessible to a lot of people because the dirt costs way too much money,” Ackerman said. “They want to buy cheaper dirt. You have to go across that bridge sometimes to find that cheaper dirt.”

The audience of 16 people at the Waccamaw Library this week seemed more receptive.

“Anytime I can save money, I’m good,” Glenn Wilson said of the local option tax.

He is the former chief executive of the Browns Ferry Water Co., which is at the top of the list to get funding from the capital projects tax. He said he understands the need for projects in the rural area and that they are likely to attract grant funds that will help leverage the sales tax revenue.

Sarah Johnson, who lives at the Lakes at Litchfield, read that the first sales tax meeting in Choppee drew four people. She made sure to get to the session at Pawleys Island.

“I’m leaning toward it,” she said of the tax proposals.

She thought the capital projects sounded worthwhile and, even though she rents, felt she would get a benefit from the local option tax, which will also reduce the tax on vehicles.

A Georgetown resident who asked not to be named in order to discuss his voting plans, said he favored the capital projects tax. He was unsure about the local option tax.

“It’s kind of regressive,” he said, because low income residents spend a larger share of their income than those with higher incomes.