County asks Charleston for priorities as it explores next transportation sales-tax referendum
October 29, 2025 | Charleston City, Charleston County, South Carolina
This article was created by AI summarizing key points discussed. AI makes mistakes, so for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Please report any errors so we can fix them. Report an error »
A Charleston County official briefed Charleston City Council Oct. 28 on a possible renewal or new local-option transportation sales tax and asked municipal officials and residents for input by Dec. 1 to inform a plan that county council could consider in early 2025.
Mr. Adams (Charleston County) told council the first local-option transportation sales tax, enacted in 2004, was set to raise about $1.3 billion over 25 years and is scheduled to expire in 2027 once the proceeds have been collected. The county official said the local revenue helped leverage roughly $1.2 billion in additional state and federal grants and supported projects ranging from intersection work to the Lowcountry Rapid Transit design.
Adams described the county's outreach timeline: municipalities and the public are asked to provide priorities by Dec. 1; the county will compile feedback and return recommendations to county council in January and through spring 2025. The county anticipates roughly $4.25 billion in proceeds if a future referendum follows the same structure and urged communities to identify priorities, including green-belt preservation, bike-and-ped investments, public-transit expansion and dedicated intersection-safety funding.
He said the county had launched an online questionnaire and had nearly 1,000 responses within about a week and a half. Adams also noted operational challenges: project delivery can be delayed by permitting, utility coordination, right-of-way work and contractor availability; county staff said options such as bonding, design-build delivery, and strategic borrowing timing may help accelerate projects but require careful planning.
Council members asked about contractor bid shortages, level-of-service modeling, and shorter versus longer tax durations; Adams said the county is collecting input on those trade-offs and expects to build flexibility into the plan so annual allocations can adapt to changing needs.
The county encouraged city staff and council to circulate the online questionnaire and invited requests for briefings or stakeholder meetings; the county listed charlestontransportation.com as a resource and set a Dec. 1 feedback deadline.
Mr. Adams (Charleston County) told council the first local-option transportation sales tax, enacted in 2004, was set to raise about $1.3 billion over 25 years and is scheduled to expire in 2027 once the proceeds have been collected. The county official said the local revenue helped leverage roughly $1.2 billion in additional state and federal grants and supported projects ranging from intersection work to the Lowcountry Rapid Transit design.
Adams described the county's outreach timeline: municipalities and the public are asked to provide priorities by Dec. 1; the county will compile feedback and return recommendations to county council in January and through spring 2025. The county anticipates roughly $4.25 billion in proceeds if a future referendum follows the same structure and urged communities to identify priorities, including green-belt preservation, bike-and-ped investments, public-transit expansion and dedicated intersection-safety funding.
He said the county had launched an online questionnaire and had nearly 1,000 responses within about a week and a half. Adams also noted operational challenges: project delivery can be delayed by permitting, utility coordination, right-of-way work and contractor availability; county staff said options such as bonding, design-build delivery, and strategic borrowing timing may help accelerate projects but require careful planning.
Council members asked about contractor bid shortages, level-of-service modeling, and shorter versus longer tax durations; Adams said the county is collecting input on those trade-offs and expects to build flexibility into the plan so annual allocations can adapt to changing needs.
The county encouraged city staff and council to circulate the online questionnaire and invited requests for briefings or stakeholder meetings; the county listed charlestontransportation.com as a resource and set a Dec. 1 feedback deadline.
View full meeting
This article is based on a recent meeting—watch the full video and explore the complete transcript for deeper insights into the discussion.
View full meeting