Jasper County engineer details $470 million 1% sales-tax program, residents press for rural road fixes

Jim Iwaneky, Jasper County's director of engineering services, told the planning commission the county is moving forward with a voter-approved 1% sales tax program to fund transportation and greenbelt projects.

"The biggest thing we're working on right now is 1% sales tax," Iwaneky said. He described the program as a $470,000,000 effort, with bonding authority of up to $150,000,000. "The split on that money is 80/20, which is $376,000,000 for roads and $94,000,000 for greenbelt projects," he said, listing top priorities that include an Exit 18/US 117 interchange, Levy Road construction and intersection improvements on SC 336.

Iwaneky said the project list was developed before the referendum and then recommended to county council by a steering committee made up of the county chairperson and the mayors of nearby municipalities. He said county council approved the committee's prioritized list and that projects will be advanced according to that list unless savings allow additions. "If we have lots of savings and we don't spend that of the $470,000,000, then we can add projects to it, but we have to get through that project list first," he said.

Residents and commissioners repeatedly asked why the program appears to concentrate on corridors that serve larger population centers while many rural gravel roads remain in poor condition.

"But we're a rural county ... a lot of our taxpayers live in rural areas where we have really bad roads. Is none of the sales tax money going to address anything except where the large populations have moved into our county?" a resident asked.

Iwaneky responded that the referendum specified 15 projects and that many of the high-profile routes are on the state-maintained system. "Most of the roads that Jasper County has are gravel roads," he said, adding that the county uses three graders on a maintenance schedule that typically hits gravel roads three to four times a year. He also noted that state-owned roads fall under SCDOT jurisdiction and that county funds can be used on the state system only through agreements; the sales tax provides a mechanism for the county to contribute to state-system improvements.

Iwaneky described other near-term work funded at the local level: the county transportation committee awarded $300,000 in stone last June (4,710 tons at $63.70 per ton) to improve gravel sections, and staff are pursuing a series of paving and parking-lot projects that will be packaged for council consideration.

On public information, Iwaneky said the county is preparing a project website and hotline to show where 1% sales tax funds are being spent once county council approves the site. "We will have a hotline number, associated where residents can call and leave a message," he said, and staff plan on-site signage identifying projects funded by the tax.

What happens next: staff said design contracts for several projects will be presented to county council for approval in the coming weeks and that project sequencing will depend on revenue flow; the sales tax ends either when the $470 million cap is reached or after a 15-year maximum collection window.