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Berkeley County committee approves intergovernmental agreement with Goose Creek for municipal road maintenance; council members flag funding and long‑term risk
Summary
The operations committee approved an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Goose Creek that lets the county accept municipal roads for maintenance if funding is available from the county’s 1¢ sales tax program; members debated funding conditionality, exit clauses and whether the county could be obligated to maintain future municipal roads.
Berkeley County’s Operations Committee approved an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the City of Goose Creek that establishes how the county will maintain roads developed inside Goose Creek’s municipal boundaries, during the committee meeting on May 27, 2025.
The IGA treats roads built inside Goose Creek as municipal roads; the county will accept maintenance responsibility only if funding is available from the county’s 1¢ sales tax program. The agreement removes bonding as a permitted default for developers, requires infrastructure to be built to county standards and includes an exit clause allowing the county to opt out of maintenance if sales tax funding is not available.
Why it matters: Committee members said the IGA aims to align municipal and county maintenance expectations and to encourage municipalities to support the county sales tax funding mechanism that pays for road maintenance. Several council members warned the county could be exposed if municipalities grow rapidly and the sales tax revenue or future referenda do not provide sufficient funds to maintain new miles of roadway.
Operations staff presented the draft agreement and highlighted three key changes from past IGAs: (1) roads will be dedicated as municipal roads rather than county roads; (2) bonding for infrastructure will be removed in favor of developer-built, warranted infrastructure; and (3) the funding clause includes an exit provision if the sales tax funds are not in place.
Committee members asked whether the city had signed and approved the IGA; staff said Goose Creek had signed off on the current draft. Members also asked about sidewalks, drainage and detention ponds; staff clarified the county would take on roadway drainage for affected municipalities but would not assume sidewalks.
A motion to approve the IGA passed on voice vote. Committee members indicated they expect further review of the agreement language at a later date to address concerns about expanding municipal maintenance obligations and to consider conditions linking acceptance to demonstrated municipal support for the sales tax funding mechanism.
Next steps: The IGA was approved by the committee and will proceed according to the county’s normal intergovernmental and contracting processes.
